Are you about to go to trial in West Palm Beach to contest the will of a relative? You may need an expert witness to rebut the other side’s case. You also are going to have to rebut their expert, and there are more than one way to skin a cat. Check out this recent case out of the Fourth District Court of Appeal where an expert witness’ financial information was opened up on appeal.
Expert Witnesses
- An expert witness gives expert opinions on matters that may be too complicated for a lay person to explain.
- Unlike most witnesses you can pay an expert for their time in preparation and testimony.
- Very few experts are going to go ahead and work for free too.
- The problem is that your financials with the expert are open for discovery by the other side!
- For example they may want to know how much you paid the expert and how often the expert testifies in these types of cases.
- Would you believe an expert who makes their living testifying?
- Juries may have a hard time believing an expert who is getting paid thousands of dollars an hour so watch out.
- Expert witnesses in a will contest may testify about an array of different things.
- For example was the testator competent?
- Did a caretaker exert undue influence?
- Make sure the jury is focused on what the expert is saying and not how much they get paid to say it.
Grabel v. Roura
- This was an appeal dealing with expert discovery.
- An expert had been asked how much money he made testifying and what percent that was of his income.
- That is very common in West Palm Beach probate disputes.
- What was the problem?
- Inconsistencies in the expert’s answers for starters.
- The expert said one thing during deposition but said another thing in their interrogatories.
- As a result the other side asked the Court to allow them to discover his financial records!
- Are you considering hiring an expert?
- Keep in mind that although it may be true that you get what you pay for juries are not going to forget how much an expert gets paid.
Want to learn more about expert witnesses?
Check out this entire case by clicking here.