Will Contest

A Legacy of Service Will Continue Now that Estate Battle is Settled

Published on: May 24, 2017 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

At last, a happy ending for the estate of the late Veronica Shoemaker, a community activist who made service the heart of her life and business.

With the conclusion of the estate battle, Mattie Young, the daughter of the late Veronica Shoemaker, will now be able to keep her mother’s flower shop open and maintain her mother’s legacy of community service. Shoemaker devoted many years of her life to serving the Fort Myer’s community and Young was faced with a contested will struggle that threatened her ability to keep the shop open.

The Fort Meyers news-press.com reported on this saga in “Shoemaker estate issue settled; florist shop stays open.” Apparently, family members reached an agreement that assured Mattie would continue to run the Veronica S. Shoemaker Florist Shop in the Dunbar community its founder served for decades.

When the Heir is Not A Family Member

Published on: September 8, 2016 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

A cautionary tale ends with a will being declared invalid, firings at the local police station and a lesson in elder abuse.

A wealthy 92 year old woman suffering from dementia left a $2 million estate to a local police sergeant but after three years of legal wrangling, her will was found to be invalid and the police officer and his supervisor were both fired from their positions. In New Hampshire Magazine’s September 2016 issue the article “Navigating Non-Relative Inheritance,” explains how vigilant professionals must be, especially in cases where children or other family members are being disinherited.

Just about all of the inheritances in a typical estate go to family members or to the deceased’s favorite charities. But when an unrelated individual is the beneficiary of a valuable asset or a large sum of money, it can raise questions and perhaps suspicions from those who felt they had a right to the inheritance. The issue may become how to balance the wishes of the testator—by distributing his or her assets as he or she sees fit—with the right of the bequeathed or the beneficiary of the will to accept it without creating a conflict of interest or violating the essential trust.

Father’s Wish to Disinherit Daughter Upheld by Court

Published on: August 30, 2016 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

A woman’s suit to contest her father’s decision to give his estate to a not-for-profit failed, as his will was found to be valid. The family’s split over religion was never resolved, and there are no winners here.

A panel of three judges upheld a previous ruling that Stacy Wolin was legally disinherited by her father, according to an article in The Algemeiner, entitled “New Jersey Woman Fails to Contest Father’s Will Over Alleged Bias Against Jewish Spouse.” The estate of Kenneth Jameson will instead go to the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God Community Services, which serves people with developmental disabilities. As unpleasant as her father’s wishes were, the will was found to be valid.

Wolin told the court that because her parents disowned her when she refused to stop dating a Jewish man, who was the man she eventually married and with whom she had three children, she was forced to pay for her college education by herself. She also had to spend her semester breaks at her boyfriend’s house because her father didn’t want her around.

Can You Successfully Contest a Will?

Published on: July 11, 2016 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Estate battles among high profile celebrities are all over the news, but can a regular person contest a will if they feel that they were unjustly treated?

You may have seen a million movies where kids are cut out of a will, but when it happens to you or someone you love, the intensity of feeling hurt or rejected may come as a surprise. If your parent or family member did not discuss his or her intentions with you while he or she was alive, getting rejected from the beyond might come as a surprise. An article from business2community.com, “How to Successfully Contest a Will,” examines what can be done to fight back.

Contesting the will as a spouse: the right of election. If your spouse left you out of his or her will, you would be entitled to the right of election in most states. This means that you can reject the will and get a certain dollar amount or percentage of the estate pursuant to state probate law.