Who will control Mom’s estate and all her money? Her daughter or her husband? This is the question posed by a very recent probate lawsuit that wasn’t just fighting over an estate, or a lot of money. It also was an inheritance dispute over whether Mom was validly married to a man when she died. Of course, this lawsuit questioning whether Mom’s last marriage was void or not occurred AFTER Mom’s death !

Second or third marriage? In Florida, particularly Palm Beach and Broward County Florida, second, third, and fourth marriages are very common. These so-called “late-life” marriages can be a blessing to seniors in their golden years on a personal level: companionship, company, love.

Are you the beneficiary of a Florida trust? What can you learn about a very recent Connecticut Superior Court case involving trust litigation and the concept known as “trust decanting?”

Do you think mom and dad expected that their seven kids would fight about the real estate and probate after they died? Maybe not, but a recent Kentucky appeals court case reveals all that can go wrong when adult kids fight over real estate and a probate. This case was a recent matter involving beneficiaries’ claims of tortious interference with an inheritance, also known as tortious interference with an expectancy and sometimes spelled tortuous interference with an inheritance. What can Florida estate beneficiaries learn from this?

The Florida appeals court sitting in West Palm Beach, Florida issued an historic and MAJOR opinion involving punitive damages and a Florida estate for a Florida citizen who died a resident of Broward County, Florida.

John Pankauski, a probate litigation attorney in West Palm Beach, Florida has announced that he completed a second book on family wealth and inheritance fights, the subject matter of his work: probate litigation.  “I’m about 90-95% finished with my second book on probate litigation” said Pankauski, arriving back recently from a trip to the Far East which included Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Vietnam. 

Are you involved in a probate or civil  lawsuit in Palm Beach County, Florida?  Broward County, Florida?  Or Miami Dade?   If you are, talk to your probate or estate lawyers about your trial schedule to make sure you are on track.  As many courts or judicial districts do, at the beginning of a new year, sometimes probate judges or civil judges in Palm Beach are rotated into another assignment or division. 

Even the wealthy are not immune from family litigation, and guardianship fights. Florida courts are not alone in being the forum for fights over someone’s person and property. Guardianship litigation, or conservatorship litigation, is happening all the time. And now it’s happening involving radio personality and Scooby Doo voice Casey Kasem and his family.

Mom has passed away and now you have disagreements with family members over her bank accounts. Problems with the Florida probate? Questions about estate administration?

Are you in the middle of a Florida probate dispute? Is your probate lawyer speaking to you about settling your lawsuit?