Dementia & Undue Influence Overturn Palm Beach Probate –March 2015 Palm Beach 4th DCA

You just read that rich Uncle from Boca’s last will and testament and something just seems off, shady right? Why would he leave half of his estate to his golf buddy? Wasnt that buddy also acting as a caretaker in his final days? Even weirder, why was this will executed after Uncle Bob already had a valid will? Now the bricks start to add up and you see the wall staring you in the face – was your loved one defrauded in death of their right to share assets with their heirs? This would be an example of undue influence which can be difficult to prove. A March 2015 case, Blinn v. Carlman, out of the Fourth District Court of Appeals highlights what the court looks to when invalidating a last will and testament based on undue influence. 

• 2007- Appellant married husband father when husband father was 82 years old.
• He had suffered from dementia from 2006 forward.
• He made inappropriate and imprudent financial decisions causing his business to fail, and he kept sending money to mail away scams. 
• 2011 he was found incapacitated and his daughter was appointed as guardian
• She also sought to invalidate his 2008 will which was executed (according to the Court) “under most suspicious circumstances”
• The wife provided various letters stating that the husband was of sound mind to get the will executed.
• Evidence further showed that wife tried avidly to convince her husband that his daughter was stealing from them.
• The probate court Palm Beach ultimately found that if the wife was so bold to exert such influence publicy there can be doubt that in the “dark during their marriage” there was “undue influence’ in the estate planning of the man.
• So, long story short, the will was set aside, and the appellate court agreed with the probate court and affirmed.

How do you overturn a will based on undue influence and dementia?

• So what did the court look to in this case?
• What factors does a probate court Delray Beach consider in a will contest?
• Often called the Carpenter factors, the Florida supreme Court set out 7 different factors to consider in determining if undue influence was exercised.
• None of these Carpenter factors, alone, are typically enough on their own to overturn a will or void a will Palm Beach
• These undue influence factors are consideration for the analysis—- they are not the alpha and omega of the question of undue influence Palm Beach County.

What factors does a Palm Beach probate consider when voiding the will?

1. presence of the beneficiary at the execution of the will
2. presence of the beneficiary at the times the testator stated an intent to make a will.
3. recommendation by the beneficiary of an attorney to draw the will (usually meaning a specific attorney)
4. knowledge of the contents of the will by the beneficiary prior to execution
5. giving of instructions on preparation of the will by the beneficiary to attorney drawing the will
6. securing of witnesses to the will by the beneficiary
7. safekeeping of the will by the beneficiary subsequent to execution

As you can see there are various things the court looks to, before, after and during, the signing of the will to determine if undue influence has been exerted.