 |
|
Probate Attorney Oakland County
Probate Court Litigation
Is someone trying to deprive you of your rightful inheritance?
Don’t let them get away with it! We are attorneys for heirs and
beneficiaries. We specialize in the enforcement of inheritance
rights. We’ll help you receive the inheritance your parents
intended for you.
Our probate attorneys have many years of experience handling
will contests and trust disputes in the Oakland County Probate
Court and other probate courts throughout the State of Michigan.
Our cases have involved disagreements among heirs, beneficiaries
and family members over inheritances; wills and trusts that were
improperly amended after a parent became mentally incapacitated
or was unduly influenced; and breaches of fiduciary duties by
personal representatives, executors and trustees.
Disputes among family members often arise after the death of a
parent or grandparent. Our clients frequently find themselves in
one the following situations:
-
An heir or beneficiary has received Notice of a Probate
Court proceeding and isn’t sure if or how to respond. If
this is you, don’t ignore the Notice – your rights may be
impaired or even lost if you don’t respond to the Notice on
time. And don’t respond without the help an experienced
probate attorney. Call us right away so we can make sure
your rights are protected.
-
An heir-at-law or beneficiary is being pressured to sign
documents that may not be in his or her best interests. If
you’re feeling pressured, please call us before signing
anything! You could be signing away your rights.
-
A stepmother has pressured a father to disinherit his
children and leave everything to her. In this situation a
son or daughter may have an “undue influence” or “mental
incapacity” claim. If your father was mentally incompetent
when he signed a new estate plan, or if he was coerced or
tricked into disinheriting his children, his new estate plan
could be invalid and you could be entitled to inherit under
his previous estate plan.
-
A brother or sister is attempting to subvert a parent’s true
intentions by taking more than his or her fair share of the
estate. We often see one sibling isolating an elderly parent
from the others or abusing his or her authority as executor
of the estate. You may need to file a Guardianship Petition
to protect your parents or pursue a claim for undue
influence or breach of fiduciary duty to preserve your
inheritance rights.
-
Whoever is in charge of an estate or trust is failing to
provide the heirs and beneficiaries with financial
information and cash distributions, or refusing to fairly
divide a decedent’s personal property. You may have the
right to compel accountings and distributions, and receive
your fair share of your mother’s or father’s personal items
of monetary and sentimental value.
-
The trustee of a trust is denying a beneficiary’s request
for a distribution of trust principal. Parents often leave
it to a trustee’s discretion to decide when a trust
beneficiary needs money from the trust. Retaining a
high-powered probate court litigation firm is often
essential. We have had great success convincing trustees to
make requested trust distributions.
-
Whoever is in charge of an estate or trust is paying
themselves too much or making improper withdrawals or
expenditures. Under these circumstances, you may have a
breach of fiduciary duty claim to recover the
misappropriated assets and remove the offending fiduciary.
In all of these situations we help heirs and beneficiaries
inherit exactly what their parents wanted them to receive. If
you’re in a similar situation, we can help.
We always attempt to resolve inheritance disputes privately,
confidentially and respectfully. However, if negotiations fail
to produce an agreement, you will lose your inheritance rights
if you don’t assert your rights as an heir or beneficiary in
Probate Court. In these cases, you need an experienced,
hard-nosed probate litigation law firm. That’s us.
Our services include:
-
Will Contests:
A will contest is a probate court proceeding to establish or
challenge the validity of a will or trust. In a will
contest, an interested party such as an heir or beneficiary
can seek to invalidate a will or trust. For example, a
beneficiary under a prior will could contend that a more
recent will was invalid because the deceased parent was the
victim of undue influence by a beneficiary under the new
will, or that the decedent was mentally incompetent when he
or she signed the new will. If it is established to the
probate court’s satisfaction that the more recent will is
invalid, then the decedent’s estate will be distributed in
accordance with the prior will. An improperly disinherited
beneficiary can reestablish his or her inheritance rights by
means of a will contest.
-
Trust Disputes:
A trust dispute is a probate court proceeding to enforce the
rights of a trust beneficiary. Under a typical estate plan,
a mother and father transfer their assets into a trust
during their lifetime. Upon the death of the surviving
parent, the remainder beneficiaries, usually the children,
often become entitled to periodic income distributions. In
addition, remainder beneficiaries may have the right to
withdraw some or all of the principal of the trust, with or
without the consent of the trustee(s). From time to time
disputes arise between the beneficiaries of a trust and the
trustee(s). For example, a trustee might not be providing
accountings or making distributions to the beneficiaries, or
a trustee may be refusing to permit a beneficiary to
withdraw principal from the trust, or a trustee may be
favoring one beneficiary over the others (often him or
herself). We represent trust beneficiaries in all kinds of
trust disputes.
-
Undue Influence
Claims: Unfortunately, far too often wills and trusts
are signed not because they reflect a true change of
intention, but because someone has been able to trick or
pressure an elderly parent into disinheriting one or more
children. A probate court proceeding alleging that a will or
trust was the result of “undue influence” seeks to have the
will or trust invalidated. The heir or beneficiary pursuing
the undue influence claim has the burden of proving the new
will or trust does not accurately reflect the decedent’s
true intentions because the decedent did not act of his or
her own volition. To do so, it may be necessary to offer the
testimony of witnesses and friends who have personal
knowledge of the decedent’s intentions, or of medical
professionals regarding the decedent’s susceptibility to
manipulation. If the probate court determines that a will or
trust was signed as the result of undue influence, the will
or trust will be invalidated and the decedent’s prior estate
plan will be enforced.
-
Mental Incapacity
Claims: A mental incapacity claim may be pursued by
an heir or beneficiary who believes a proffered will or
trust was signed by the decedent when he or she was no
longer mentally competent. The interested party pursuing
this claim has the burden of proving that the decedent was
not of sound mind and disposing memory when the questioned
will or trust was signed. In many cases, testimony of
doctors is submitted to the probate court to establish that
a father or mother was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or
dementia when a will or trust was signed. If the probate
court agrees, the will or trust will be invalidated and the
decedent’s prior estate plan will be enforced.
-
Heir-at-Law Claims:
When someone passes away without a will, his or her
assets pass to the “heirs-at-law” in accordance with the
laws of intestate succession. Under Michigan intestate
succession statutes, when a father dies without a will, his
estate is shared between his surviving widow and children.
It is often necessary for an heir-at-law to open a probate
estate in order to enforce his or her right to inherit under
the laws of intestate succession.
-
Breach of Fiduciary
Duty Claims: A fiduciary is a personal
representative, executor or trustee. All fiduciaries are
legally obligated to act in the best interests of the heirs
and beneficiaries to whom their fiduciary duties are owed
and strictly forbidden from acting in their own interests.
Fiduciaries are often also beneficiaries. For example, one
sibling may be named as the fiduciary of a will or trust and
entrusted by the parents to treat all of the siblings
equally and fairly. If the entrusted sibling fails to do so,
the other siblings may have a breach of fiduciary claim. To
prevail on a breach of fiduciary duty claim, an heir or
beneficiary has the burden of proving that the fiduciary
breached his or her duties by violating the terms of the
will or trust, failing to abide by any probate court order
or abusing his or her discretion regarding trust
distributions. A beneficiary can assert their breach of
fiduciary duty claim in probate court, seeking removal of
the fiduciary and/or recovery of trust assets
misappropriated or imprudently invested by the fiduciary.
The probate court could also seek to compel the fiduciary to
take specific actions, such as make distributions to trust
beneficiaries.
Thank you for visiting our website and taking the time to learn
about will contests and trust disputes. We hope you’ll give us a
call to discuss your situation. We would be happy to schedule a
free, confidential consultation with one of our probate
attorneys. If we determine that you have a valid claim, we’ll
offer to represent you on an hourly fee, flat fee or contingent
fee basis. Then we’ll see to it that your inheritance rights are
fully enforced.
Based in Birmingham, Michigan, McKelvie, McKelvie, Yee & Epacs,
P.C. represents heirs
and beneficiaries throughout the Metropolitan Detroit area,
including Oakland County, Macomb County, Wayne County and
Washtenaw County, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, West Bloomfield,
Rochester, Rochester Hills, Troy, Novi, Plymouth, Brighton,
Canton Township, Commerce Township, Milford, Clinton Township,
Macomb and Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Probate Attorney Oakland County
|