Florida Will Fights and Will Contests: does it make financial sense?

Florida probate litigation is a growth industry, for good or bad.  Whether that means that beneficiaries, heirs and children of a Florida estate or Florida trust are getting the legal help they need, or whether there are too many inheritance fights or inheritance disuptes, is left to another discussion. Regardless, children and heirs, and beneficiaries under a Florida will, are engaging in disputes (fights) over family wealth and wills throughout South Florida: from Palm Beach Gardens in Palm Beach County, down the coast to Aventura and Miami-Dade County, Florida.  Does the will fight or the will contest make financial sense?   Probate lawyers and probate trial lawyers make money when they do battle in a Florida estate.  After all, Florida estate lawyers will be travelling around South Florida and getting documents from Delray Beach doctors, deposing witnesses in Miami-Dade, meeting with people in Boynton Beach, interviewing witnesses in Boca Raton and appearing in court in places like Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.  You have to consider what it is going to cost to pay a Florida estate lawyer to file a lawsuit, conduct discovery and take you to trial. How much will you have to spend to object to a will?  To object to a petition for administration?  Good probate lawyers in Florida will also tell you to consider what you might have to pay the other side if you lose in an estate lawsuit.  Pay the other side?  That’s right: a very real possibility.  That’s because in the Florida estate context, in probate administration proceedings, including objections to a will based upon undue influence or lack of mental capacity, there are fee shifting statutes in the Probate Code.  These Florida statutes can make the losing side to a will contest pay the winning side or the prevailing party.   There are similar fee shifting statutes in the Florida Trust Code for trust litigation.  In determining whether an estate lawsuit makes sense, consider : 1) how much you are fighting over–the amount in controversy, such as the value of the Florida estate, or the date of death value of a bank account or a one half share of the Florida estate, whatever is in dispute.  Quantify it.  2) How much do you have pay your Florida probate attorneys to fight or litigate?  3) How much might you pay the other side, like your brother, sister, parent’s spouse, Florida trustee or personal representative, if you lose? 4) What is the chance or % that you win or lose?   When you consider these important factors in a Florida will fight or a Florida estate matter, try to gauge the possible victories ($) versus losses ($).  How much risk are you willing to take?  Advocate hard. Litigate smart.