Having a parent or loved one pass away is hard enough. Can you imagine what you would do when you found out their 17 million dollar estate was left to their probate attorney? Can a probate attorney even do that? A Detroit area lawyer is possibly going to face some stiff penalties after he let one of his clients leave the entire estate to him. How can you be sure you are dealing with a legitimate West Palm Beach probate attorney and not a scammer who is going to leave your inheritance to themselves by using undue influence?!
Can a Probate Attorney Leave Part of the Estate to Themselves
- West Palm Beach probate attorneys are subject to the Rules of Professional Conduct.
- There are specific rules for leaving a bequest to an attorney.
- In general West Palm Beach probate attorney should never draft a will if the testator plans on leaving something to that attorney.
- The only general exception to that rule is when the attorney is related to the testator.
- Even then, a good probate attorney may just walk down the hall and ask another attorney to draft it to avoid any doubt.
- So what happens when these rules of ethics and professionalism are broken?
- Check out this case about a Detroit area lawyer.
Court: Lawyer’s $14M Inheritance is Unethical, but not necessarily INVALID!
- A Detroit area attorney violated ethical rules when he drafted estate documents for a wealthy client who willed millions to the lawyer and his children.
- Does that sound ethical?
- That does not necessarily mean that the will is invalid according to the Michigan Court of Appeals in a split decision released today, October 9, 2015.
- The court overturned a lower court ruling that threw out the will and said that the onus is on the attorney to show he did not exert undue influence over the client.
- Of a $17 million estate the man left the lawyer and his children $14 million in cash and trusts.
- Why can’t all clients be so generous to their West Palm Beach probate attorneys?
- The truth is this is probably a case of undue influence at its worse.
- Do you agree with the Appeals court, is the will still valid?
- Should attorneys be stopped by the rules from accepting an inheritance that is drafted in violation of the ethical rules?
- What good are these rules if you can breach them once and retire with the millions if you lose your law license?
- What do you think?
- What about the testator’s family?
- Do they plan on contesting the will?
Want to learn more about this interesting case?
Check out this recent news article about this case by clicking here.