Caretaker wins estate dispute over the testimony of entire family in Illinois! Can your Will Contest Win? Proving Undue Influence.

After a will is admitted to probate you may want to challenge it, but are your words taken over the words of the will? Who does the court have to believe? What happens when your uncles caretaker is exerting undue influence can you and all of your cousins testify to prove it and undue the fraud? Are you sure that will be enough evidence for the Court? Hear what was not enough in this recent case out of Illinois’ Third District in Melleny v. Estate of Bobbins. 

• Palm Beach Probate Courts can and do regularly hold evidentiary hearings to determine if undue influence or fraud can be established in a will contest. 
• How does a court really know what a testator’s intent was? Is a Court going to assume that an aged, possibly not mentally competent wanted to look out foryou just because you are related?  What about when a will contest is between two relatives which it often is?!
• All the evidence in the world may not be enough, so maybe you should think about ensuring all ducks are in order prior to death. Check out this case out of Illinois where all the evidence in the world it appears would not be enough, it was all just to circumstancial.

Illinois Court of Appeals says that entire family’s testimony regarding the mother was not enough to get a caretaker’s share of an estate returned and a will invalidated. What else could they possibly have shown? Do you think this was fair to deny them a jury hearing?

• The Illinois Court of Appeals decided on March 27, 2015 the case of Melleny v. Estate of Bobbins , 2015 IL App (3d) 140374-U (Not reported in N.E. 3d).
• The children of the decedent challenged the will admitted to probate by the caretaker of their mother. The will awarded a majority of the mother’s estate to the caretaker.
• Countless depositions were taken, the entire family testified to ample evidence of undue influence claiming that their mother was not allowed to do anything without the consent of the caretaker.
• The judge said that since there was no fiduciary duty from the caretaker (Im not sure how that conclusion was reached its unclear, do you agree though?) there was no presumption of undue influence (when a fiduciary gets willed something) and under these circumstances undue influecne couldnt be established. 

What do you think? Should the family have gotten their day in court for a jury to decide if their was undue influence or was a simple evidentiary hearing sufficient? Palm Beach Probate lawyers know that an undue influence case can be an uphill battle and are prepared to make rational compromises and tactical planning to resolve these issues through West Palm Beach, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Jupiter, Ft. Lauderdale and more!