Will and Trust Contests
Van Blois & Associates have successfully represented family members in estate disputes. Family members who have not inherited what they expect to inherit should contact us to learn if their loved one was unduly influenced by another or did not have the testamentary capacity to make changes in their wills or trusts. A caregiver, companion or professional person may unduly influence a person’s testamentary decisions. We have the trial experience that most probate and estate planning attorneys do not possess. We have worked closely with highly qualified probate specialists in cases involving undue influence, incapacity or inability to make decisions about property and breach of fiduciary duty. We have established successful relationships with the leading physicians in the field of Alzheimers disease and undue influence. We accept cases on a contingency fee basis which means we only get paid for our services if we win the case.
Examples of our successes:
Undue influence disinherits children -- $3,800,000
Working closely with probate associate counsel, we represented two brothers who were cut out of their mother’s estate when a series of wills and trust admentments left the estate to charity. Their mother consistently stated through the years that she was leaving her half of the estate to her two sons. Alzheimer’s disease caused her mental capacity to deteriorate. When she died, her half of the estate went to her husband who was not the father of our clients and he changed his will to leave the entire estate to charity. After extensive litigation including depositions of over twenty-five friends of the family, we settled the case at mediation prior to trial and the two brothers received their half of their mother’s estate.
Sister cuts brother out of estate -- $1,700,000
An elderly mother amended her estate plan several times to make sure her two children were treated equally. Whenever she gave cash or gifts to one child, she changed her will to provide an equal amount to her other child. As the mother’s mental capacity decreased, her daughter took control of her aging mother, isolated her and unduly influenced her to change her estate plan, leaving almost everything to the daughter. We represented the son who alleged that the changes to his mother’s trust were the result of undue influence by his half sister. The case was fully litigated and prepared for trial where it settled on the first day of trial.
