When a lawyer botches a will or trust, the people who get hurt are usually the ones who were supposed to inherit. The client is dead. The mistake often doesn’t surface until the estate is in probate, and by then the money is going somewhere the client never intended. So can a disappointed beneficiary sue […]
Many families keep the same financial advisor for decades, even when that advisor changes firms three or four times. Mom’s investment account follows the advisor from one brokerage to the next, and nobody thinks twice about it. Then Mom dies, and her will leaves “my account at Firm X ending in 1234” to specific people. […]
Imagine your mother dies after an injury that someone else may have caused. She left no will, no surviving spouse, and no other children. You are her only heir. You file a lawsuit for her estate, and before you ever get a hearing on the merits, the trial court throws it out on jurisdictional grounds. […]
Administering a loved one’s estate is rarely simple, and when property ownership is disputed, it can stretch into years of litigation. An executor takes on a real responsibility: they are the legal face of the estate in court, and the estate cannot act without them. So what happens when an executor resigns in the middle […]
When a loved one passes away and leaves behind more than one will, the practical question that rises to the surface almost immediately is: which one controls? That question may seem straightforward on its face. The latter will generally govern. But what happens when the person challenging the latter insists that the witnesses who signed […]
When a family fight over trusts spills across state lines, you can end up with one court saying one thing and another court saying the opposite. A trustee who wins in one state will naturally want to use that win everywhere else. But a favorable judgment from another state’s court does not automatically erase a […]
When a parent files for guardianship over an adult child with an intellectual disability, the hardest part is often the family conflict. One parent sees a vulnerable person who needs protection. The other sees a capable adult being unfairly restricted. When the medical experts disagree too, the probate court has to sort through conflicting evidence […]
Guardian cases can go on for some time. But when a guardianship case gets dismissed, you would think that’s the end of it. The court closes the file. The parties move on. But what happens when the court continues issuing orders after dismissal? Can a probate court exercise authority over a proceeding that technically no […]
When someone owns an LLC that owns assets, can the person give the LLC-owned assets away via their will or estate plan? While many know that they can give away their LLC interest by will, some may not know that they cannot give away LLC assets. This confusion often comes up as it isn’t aways […]
The phone rings. The caller refuses to identify themselves. They claim your parents’ will was forged and promise they have proof. Most people would dismiss such a call as a cruel prank. But what happens when those anonymous allegations turn out to be true, and the proof comes in the form of boxes filled with […]