Q: what if someone promised to leave you $10 Million ? Would you get that in writing ? Here’s a recent probate lawsuit, or inheritance lawsuit, from New York, decided just days ago, about a purported promise to leave an inheritance…… actually a promise to leave a $10 Million trust.
If you have ever been involved in a Palm Beach probate case, or a Palm Beach inheritance lawsuit, you understand the importance of the “discovery” process. The discovery process is an important part of any estate lawsuit or trust dispute, and is governed by the Florida probate rules & the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure. The discovery process helps heirs, next of kin, family members, personal representatives of the Florida estate, and others learn answers to important questions like: where’s all the money ? I thought mom or dad’s estate had more money: where is it ? Who has mom or dad’s medical records ? Did they know what they were doing when they changed their will or trust ? An important part of the discovery process in probate litigation is the “deposition.” A Palm Beach appeals court case whose opinion was just issued yesterday answers the question: do I have to travel to have my deposition taken ?
Have you ever been involved in a Palm Beach probate or a Ft. Lauderdale estate lawsuit and been ordered to show up in Probate Court by the probate judge ? Probate judges requiring you, a party to a probate lawsuit, to attend a court hearing is common, including case management conferences or status conferences before a probate trial. A recent Broward County, Florida ruling which dismissed the defenses of a party who failed to show up to Broward court when ordered, demonstrates the importance of following court orders.
The nephew was USED TO BE appointed to run the estate, and was replaced in the trust amendment by his brother, sued. The 3 charities who had been cut out by the trust amendment also joined. What did they argue in their probate lawsuit or trust lawsuit?
A very recent probate litigation case in California went to the appeals court. This probate lawsuit involved a challenge to a mother’s will based upon fraud, forgery and undue influence. This estate lawsuit involved $4.2 Million and 5 children who were dis-inherited.
What should Florida trustees know about the Stanford Ponzi scheme case ? I’m not just talking about investment losses, or trust losses. I’m talking about what Palm Beach trustees and trustees of Florida trusts might want to take away from the recent US Supreme Court decision. You — a Palm Beach Trustee or a Ft. Lauderdale Trustee —- may have to sue someone else who caused harm to your Florida trust or who harmed your Florida trust beneficiaries. Here’s what the US Supreme Court said about recovery investment losses from that Ponzi schemer and here’s what every Florida trustee should know about Florida Trusts, the Florida Trust code and Palm Beach Probate.
How does Facebook and Palm Beach probate litigation overlap? Social media and discovery in Palm Beach trials and lawsuits collide in a recent Florida appeals case. Can one side, or a Florida court, make you produce all your Facebook postings,”likes” and dislikes? Yes! ……….. if it’s relevant to the lawsuit.
How important are expert witnesses in Florida litigation? Well, The One-Eyed Witness, by Jess Wegman, of the New York Times, February 24, 2014, chronicled a man who was convicted for murder decades ago, in part because his criminal defense attorney didn’t hire a good bullet expert.
One of the worst things that can happen to our judicial process in Florida, indeed to our civil procedure in Florida, is for there to be a fraud on the court. Serious, experienced – – – real – – – Palm Beach trial lawyers and Palm Beach litigators know from years of experience that fraud on the court is a serious accusation. My time in Palm Beach County probate courts and the civil division of Palm Beach County circuit courts has suggested that a lot of inexperienced attorneys make an allegation of fraud on the court, sometimes where none exists.
In Palm Beach probates, funeral expenses are a debt of the Palm Beach Estate. The Palm Beach Executor — the one who administers or runs the Palm Beach Estate — also called a Personal Representative, pays those funeral expenses if they are reasonable, depending on a Florida Probate Code Statute. There’s an order to the payment of a Florida resident’s debts when they die: estate adminstration expenses, probate lawyers, the IRS (for income taxes and estate taxes) and creditors of the estate, all have to be paid in accordance with the Palm Beach Probate rules: the Florida Probate Code and the Florida Probate Rules. A recent Forbes article discussed filial support: when states make the kids pay their parents’ burial expenses and funeral expenses. Sound different? It is. Florida has no such law —-although estate debts & expenses always get paid before the kids inherit.