Protecting Your Estate Plan from Challenges: No-Contest Clause Explained
Sibling rivalry is a tale as old as time. In probate litigation, however, these emotional battles can eat away at a family’s precious legacy. That’s why a good estate plan needs to go beyond tax and investment planning...more
The Virginia Court of Appeals recently ruled that a lawsuit seeking to remove a trustee does not trigger a no contest clause. This decision is both valuable and timely, as it clarifies what many attorneys in Virginia have...more
When you’ve worked hard for what you have, the last thing you want is to see it lost in a contest over your estate. Perhaps more important than the financial cost of an estate contest is the emotional cost. Few events can...more
The equitable defense of acquiescence, which rests upon the equitable doctrine of election, is available to a trustee if a beneficiary, fully apprised of all the relevant facts and law, of full age and legal capacity, and...more
The legal saga surrounding the estate of Dr. Laura Dean Head—a respected professor at San Francisco State University—is a powerful example of how undue influence and disinheritance can put an estate at risk and take years to...more
Disinheriting someone from an estate is a big decision, one that requires careful consideration and precise legal drafting to avoid ambiguity, disputes, and delays. Estate planners should avoid generic clauses and embrace...more
A court should not enforce a trust in terrorem clause if its enforcement under the particular facts and circumstances would frustrate settlor intent. Assuming that the settlor intended to impress a trust upon the property,...more
In In re In the Estate of Wegenhoft, an applicant filed an application to probate a will, which contained a no-contest clause. No. 14-23-00350-CV, 2024 Tex. App. LEXIS 5352 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] July 30, 2024, no...more
Did your father give you a nominal bequest but gave his favorite daughter the bulk of the estate? Were you bequeathed the family dog and $10,000, but your mother’s boyfriend of six months was to receive the Lamborghini and...more
This blog has previously mentioned the most common question we hear when people find out we work in probate litigation: “What can I do to make sure my family doesn’t fight over my property after I die?” Because I am a...more
Join us for our 15th Annual Fiduciary Focus! Breakfast and lunch will be provided. Topics Include: - Recent Developments in Wealth Planning - Using Trustee Investment Statements - Strategies to Avoid Fiduciary...more
Understanding the significance of trustee notice, as mandated by Probate Code Section 16061.7, is crucial in trust administration. This notice is required upon the occurrence of certain events, most notably, when a trust...more
The Texas Legislature created a statute to protect parties’ rights to freedom of speech and to petition the courts: the Texas Citizen’s Participation Act (TCPA). See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. §§ 27.001-.011....more
One of the many reasons for executing a Will and Trust is to make your wishes clear and prevent animosity among family members or other beneficiaries after your death. However, there are circumstances in which it is clear to...more
Unfortunately, not all families get along. If you are having problems with one of your children, you may not want them to benefit from your estate. There are several strategies for dealing with an estranged child in your...more
No contest clauses generally are not enforceable against beneficiaries of California trusts when there is “probable cause” to challenge the trust instrument. Yet the probable cause safe harbor may disappear if the contest...more
This newsletter is intended to keep readers informed about developments in probate and fiduciary litigation in Massachusetts and New York. Our lawyers are at the forefront of this area of the law, shaping how it is handled in...more
The recent opinion by the Appellate Division, Third Department, in In re Strom Irrevocable Trust III, 2022 NY Slip Op 01356, provides a cautionary tale to estate litigators who conduct SCPA 1404 examinations in the face of a...more
Texas practitioners can add a new term to their legal vocabulary: “the Monroe exception.” The Texas Supreme Court has finally weighed in on whether to create an exception to the eight corners rule when determining if an...more
Drafting an estate plan allows a person to put into writing their wishes for division of assets upon death. Sometimes this means making a choice to give more to one child over the other, or to completely write out natural...more
People handle grief differently and sometimes how a person handles the death of a loved one can be both confusing and also extremely frustrating - fighting over little things like, who gets the table and the chairs, for...more
Suing the suer is a common strategy in California civil litigation. A special motion to strike, known as an anti-SLAPP motion, can be a powerful weapon against such retaliatory litigation. We have explained the use of such...more
Recent decisions in California and Mississippi illustrate the divergence among states regarding enforcement of in terrorem clauses in wills and trusts...more
Tracy M. Potts has nearly three decades of experience in California with estate planning, administration and litigation. A Texas native, she earned her law degree from Southern Methodist University School of Law. Her...more
Emotions can run high at the death of a family member. If a family member is unhappy with the amount they received (or didn't receive) under a will, he or she may contest the will. Will contests can drag out for years,...more