Sister-in-Law Loses Probate Litigation Appeal : October 9, 2014 Cali undue influence case affirmed

Palm Beach County, Florida & California have more in common than just great sunsets:  each state has lots of probate litigation.  Family suing family when a mother or father die.  This recent October 9, 2014 California probate lawsuit was just affirmed on appeal.  If you are involved in suing a brother or brother in law over mom’s estate, and think there are issues of undue influence or breach of fiduciary duty for the way the estate was handled, you may want to read this case.

Estate Litigation: background facts

• As any estate litigation lawyer, Palm Beach County, Florida, will tell you: the devil of anyestate lawsuit is in the details
• 1914: Beverly born
• Beverly had two sons: Donald and Fred
• Donald suffered from Parkinson’s and died during the probate litigation
• January 2002: Beverly signs power of attorney naming Fred as POA
• September 2002: Beverly’s brother dies
• No will is found
• Fred begins the probate process for his uncle’s estate and is named executor of the estate
• Beverly is the sole beneficiary of her late brother’s estate
• May 2003: Beverly meets with probate lawyer to create estate plan
• June 2003: Beverly creates revocable living trust and a “pour over ” will (as any Boca Raton estate lawyer will tell you, these are now part of a basic estate plan)

Beverly’s Revocable Living Trust : holds her wealth

• Any probate lawyer Boynton Beach will tell you that most Florida clients are using their living trusts to hold, administer and distribute their wealth, property and bank accounts
• Beverly’s revocable trust left Fred in charge as the sole trustee
• Upon Beverly’s death, her living trust leaves inheritances to Fred, who gets half of the trust, and Donald’s half is not given to him outright, but rather is held in a special needs trust
• July 2003: Fred tells Beverly’s probate lawyer that his mom wants to leave her inheritance from her brother’s estate to Fred
• Beverly and Fred meet with Beverly’s estate planning attorney and discuss changeswhich Beverly wants to make to her revocable trust
• Beverly’s will and trust attorney met with Beverly alone, without Fred, and Beverly said that she did not want to leave her inheritance from her brother’s estate to Fred: she felt pressured
• Beverly was upset with Fred for making her come to an appointment with her estate lawyer
• Beverly’s estate lawyer was concerned about Fred’s influence on Beverly and her state of mind
• No changes to the trust document made

Beverly’s Inheritance from Her Brother’s Estate:  $433,0000

• March, 2004: Fred, the administrator or executor of the estate of his uncle, after someprobate proceedings gives his mom her inheritance
• Beverly inherits almost a half million from her late brother’s estate
• Beverly puts her inheritance into a bank account
• How is the bank account titled?  Beverly Pay On Death to Fred
• Beverly signs a power of attorney putting Fred in charge
• Her inheritance goes into her POD bank account
• May 2004: Fred transfers the inheritance from the POD bank account to a Charles Schwab account for benefit of Beverly
• May 9 2004: Fred and Beverly meet with investment adviser and Beverly signs a beneficiary plan agreement which opened a transfer on death investment account
• Terms of investment account:  on Beverly’s death….. Fred inherits it !

Probate Lawsuit: Allegations

• As you can probably tell from these background facts of this probate lawsuit, there were a number of allegations made about Fred.
• Most of these allegations are very common to typical probate litigation lawsuits in the probate courts of Delray Beach and Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
• Undue influence
• Breach of fiduciary duty
• Financial elder abuse
• To read more about the specifics about this probate litigation, the case is described below

Probate Question: Want to see free online videos about probate litigation? And some commentary on Florida probate FAQ’s?   Here’s a link:

Probate Answer:  http://www.pankauskilawfirm.com/

Probate Lawsuit Basics

• 2014WL 5035354
• Bellows v Bellows
• First District, Division 3, California, Court of Appeal, Justice Pollack, A 139994
• Appeal from Mendocino County Superior Court, No SCUK 09-54755