Articles on Probate Cases

Litigation “Venture Capital”: Contingency Fees in Probate Litigation

The growing income inequality between the very wealthiest Americans and the middle and working classes have made legal services more and more of a province of those who can afford attorneys and not those who need them. Fortunately, contingency fee…

The derivative lawsuit: A little-used weapon against estates

When you step back and think about it, the administration of an estate carries with it the potential to provoke disagreement between the estate and its heirs. The personal representative (formerly known under prior law as the execturor) has the…

Alan Secures Victory For Widow in Bitterly Contested Estate Dispute

An arbitrator has issued a decision in favor of Alan’s client in a bitterly disputed, lengthy case that has its roots in events that occurred in the early 1990s. In late 1992, Gloria died without a will. Gloria’s husband, Peter,…

Alan Successfully Strikes Affidavit of Objections in Will Contest

Alan was recently successful in persuading the Norfolk County Probate Court to strike an affidavit of objections in a will contest, thus ending the challenge to an amended will. The challenging parties filed a lengthy affidavit, setting forth what they…

Court Sides With Alan On Novel Legal Malpractice issue

In an issue of first impression, a court has sided with Alan’s client in a case in which he represents an executor who has sued the attorney for the decedent for malpractice in his drafting of the decedent’s will. The…

Alan Settles Will Contest With Aknowledgement That Later Will Is Invalid

On May 4, 2012, Alan secured a settlement of a will contest for a client on terms highly favorable to the client. The client’s brother had executed a will in 2002, at which time the client and his brother owned…

Alan Secures Judgment in Complex Will Contest

What happens when someone produces a later will in an attempt to invalidate an earlier will that was already approved for probate?

Challenge the amendment of a trust

Clients are two of three children of a woman who died in 2007. In 1994 the decedent prepared a trust that sought to evenly divide certain bank and brokerage accounts equally among the three children. In 2006, the decedent amended…

Misconduct in management and use of Trust

Case Summary: Alan represented a disabled woman in her 60s was the beneficiary of a trust that required the trustee, her sister, to provide a “housing benefit” for her. The trustee owned and managed a home in which both she…

Challenge the amount of trustee’s and trust attorney’s fees

Case Summary: Alan represented the beneficiaries of a trust, which was administered for more than 15 years. When the trust was to be liquidated, the trustee provided a proposed accounting and asked that the beneficiaries sign off on the accounting. …

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