Articles on Trust & Estate Disputes Posts

Misuses of Power of Attorney and Nominee Trusts

There are two legal instruments that lend themselves particularly well to fraud and abuse: the power of attorney and the nominee trust. A great deal of litigation is spawned by the misuse of those instruments. Powers of Attorney A power…

Do You Know What Day It Is? Understanding Testamentary Capacity

It is typical when clients meet or speak with me for the first time about a dispute involving a will or trust in Massachusetts that they bring up an issue concerning the mental capacity of the person who made or…

Challenging a Will in Massachusetts – What is Undue Influence?

A very common legal matter in Probate litigation is a Will Contest. This is when an interested party challenges the validity of a Will. The question of Undue influence often arises — Did someone close to the deceased convince him…

Challenging transfers of real estate to a child based on “Caregiver” agreements.

BUT I WAS TAKING CARE OF DAD! In recent months I have been asked to become involved in some highly volatile estate disputes which have arisen from so-called “caregiver” agreements, whereby an elderly person transfers real estate to one of…

Do you know undue influence when you see it?

As lawyers we throw around the term “undue influence” and often assume that our clients understand what it means. But it’s really a difficult concept to understand and is subject to misconceptions. To that end, I wanted to take this…

Challenging probate accounts

The process by which an estate is probated is shrouded in a great deal of mystery, perhaps in part because the process is somewhat antiquated and hasn’t changed in about a century. If you’re at all concerned about the manner…

Removing an Executor of an Estate

I’ve been getting a lot of phone calls in recent months from heirs in Massachusetts who are dissatisfied with how the decedent’s estate is being administered. These complaints can be sorted into two distinct categories: (a) complaints that the estate…

Attaching bank accounts; the sharpest tool in the shed

Imagine the following scenario: One of your parents has just died, and the money that you thought was left to you and your siblings is missing. You subsequently learn that sibling who had a joint bank account with…

Mediating Estate/Trust Disputes

Although emotions frequently run high in estate and trust disputes, particularly in the early stages, most such disputes are eventually settled. I find that in most instances where these cases are settled, that result is achieved only through a process…

When going the extra mile pays off…uncovering a fraud

I recently learned the value of trusting my own investigative instincts. Last year I settled a case involving fiduciary misconduct. As part of the settlement, the defendant trustee and executrix agreed to assign to my client the estate's claim for…

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