We've come to the finale of our worst case scenario of undue influence. One case, from Massachusetts in the early 1990's that was in actuality a step by step guide on how it happens and how it is handled in the courts. We pick up this week with Lawrence's death in late 1993. His live-in 'caretaker'...
Last week we started our 'worst case scenario' post. The story of Lawrence Moretti and his lifelong friend, Rita Casoni, and the close knit neighborhood that is Boston's North End. When we left them last week, Lawrence, in his late seventies, had begun to suffer some health problems. Rita pitched i...
Sometimes the best way to understand a complex situation is to look at the worst case scenario. You know, the scenario where every possible thing that can go wrong - intentionally or accidentally - does go wrong. So, about undue influence. Here's a summary of what may well be the most egregious exam...
'Dead Hand' is not the title of one of next season's Walking Dead episodes. It is a term used to describe certain clauses in some wills and trusts. From the Beastie Boys to the great playwrights Eugene O'Neill and Edward Albee, to Franz Kafka, to parents worried about the spending habits of their a...
A conservator and a probate case that started years before death and promises to continue, in one form or the other, for years. That's the brief description of the Casey Kasem estate. The American Top 40 DJ for decades, the man with the unmistakable voice, died at age 82 in June 2014. His probate ...
Here's a story about what to do when you know you're going to be made the executor of an estate. And, you're a beneficiary of the estate as well. It's a cautionary tale, if you've been following our blog for any length of time, you know it's a necessary one to heed. First, here's a quick run down o...
Family members make a lot of promises to one another over the course of lifetimes. Not all of them are, of course, carried out. Not even the best intentioned ones. So, what happens to a mother's estate deep into the probate process when a son tries to enforce a promise given years earlier? We're ab...
We're halfway through 2017 and have covered a lot of probate issues on our blog. We thought this would be a good time to look back and review the themes and issues we've been writing about for the last six months. Fortunately for us - and very unfortunately for the executors, trustees, administrato...
We write and talk a lot about valuations during the probate process. We tend to take the valuation process a little for granted. After all, usually it's 'get the asset appraised, maybe a few times to be safe, then move on'. It's not always that easy, however. Figuring out what something is worth at...
We work with probate and wills and estates every day. Every time we think we've seen it all, something new comes up. Probate matters can cross over into almost every imaginable area of the law while, certainly, involving all manner of human emotions. Today's proof of that is the Alan Thicke estate....
Maybe in a year or so we'll be writing the final blog piece about the Prince estate. Maybe. Right now, though, a year after Prince's tragic, so untimely death, about the only thing we can say with certainty is it can't be much fun to be administrator of the his estate. You may remember from an earl...
Here's a quick story. A father runs a successful farm. He and his wife have two children, both boys, a couple of years apart. The boys grow up, go to college, go on to solid careers. Mom dies, dad remarries. The boys, now in their late forties are not happy. Dad, though, is. The boys never accept th...
