Archive for March, 2009
Morrison v. Morrison – Undue influence and revocation
A son, the named executor of his father’s will, filed the will for probate. Two other sons filed a caveat (objection) raising claims of undue influence and revocation. The caveators’ undue influence claim was based on the role the executor played in selecting the attorney who drafted his father’s 1998 will and his alleged participation…
Smith v. Wyatt – Presumption of the probate court’s correctness in the absence of a hearing transcript
The decedent’s sister filed a caveat (objection to a will) alleging that the decedent lacked testamentary capacity and had been unduly influenced by the person named as executor in the decedent’s will. The caveat also claimed that the person named as sole heir in the will was neither the natural nor adopted child of the…
Baker v. Merrill Lynch Trust Co. – Charitable bequest and the “cy pres” doctrine
A testator (person who executes a will) left the bulk of her estate to a trust. Under the terms of the trust, some assets were to be distributed to named heirs with most of the remainder of her estate to go to a foundation. However, the testator died before she actually established the foundation. Merrill…
Booker v. Booker – Right to appeal probate court decision
After a man died intestate (without a will), his widow petitioned the probate court for year’s support. The probate court granted her petition. The decedent’s mother appealed to the superior court, but the court dismissed her appeal, finding that she had no standing (right to pursue the claim in court). The Court of Appeals affirmed…
Deering v. Keever – Amending a caveat
A petition to probate a will listed a woman and her brother as the decedent’s heirs, though they were not named as beneficiaries in his will. Acting pro se (without an attorney), the woman filed a caveat (objection) to the petition, asserting that the will failed to identify her or other heirs as being disinherited….
Montgomery v. Montgomery – Right to a trial by jury in appeal of year’s support award
Following her husband’s death, a widow petitioned the court for year’s support, and she was awarded a half interest in the marital home and a car. The husband’s son appealed to the superior court, which reduced the award to the car, personal property, and $14,000. The superior court also denied the widow’s demand for a…
Anderson v. Westmorland – Year’s support award
A widow filed a petition for year’s support, and the daughter of the decedent filed an objection. The probate court granted the award and the superior court affirmed the award, but the Court of Appeals held that the widow was not entitled to year’s support. The year’s support must be reasonably related to the amount…
Dorsey v. Kennedy – Relevant time for evidence of undue influence and lack of capacity
A man died in 2006 after a long battle with dementia. A woman attempted to probate a will the man purportedly executed on July 29, 1999. The man’s son and stepson filed caveats (objections to the will). A jury found that the will was invalid because it was the product of the woman’s undue influence…
Taylor v. Taylor – Year’s support award
When a man died intestate (without a will), his widow and surviving son entered into an agreement to divide the net estate, and they each took distributions of $30,000. The widow then filed a petition for a year’s support of $60,000 plus other assets worth $24,000. Following a hearing, the probate court awarded her a…
Weatherly v. Weatherly – Life insurance proceeds
In 2000, a mother named her daughter as beneficiary of her life insurance policy. In 2003, she added her two sons as contingent beneficiaries, leaving her daughter as sole primary beneficiary. When the mother died after a long illness in June, 2005, her daughter sought 100% of the proceeds of her mother’s life insurance policy….