Attorney Adrian Philip Thomas is the managing partner of this boutique, six-attorney law firm. The Law Offices of Adrian Philip Thomas, P.A. concentrates its practice on representing clients with estate, will, trust, and probate issues, particularly those involved in: estate litigation, will contests, probate litigation, undue influence, guardianship disputes or lack of mental capacity lawsuits.
Mr. Thomas has a Master of Laws in Estate Planning from the University of Miami in Florida. He has the requisite experience and knowledge to represent individuals, heirs, beneficiaries, and family members adversely affected by an honest mistake, by a misunderstanding, or by outright fraud and dishonest behavior.
Mr. Thomas represents clients in the following practice areas:
Estate lawyers representing beneficiaries, heirs, charities or family members should first attempt to negotiate an honest, fair and prompt response to any estate dispute or probate problem. Whether a will contest, trust litigation or probate lawsuit, cases resolved outside of litigation need an experienced probate attorney who will structure the settlement to protect the client's rights and advance favorable settlement terms, taking into account the tax ramifications of any settlement. However, when a family member, second spouse, dishonest neighbor or home health care aid improperly places himself into a Last Will and Testament or Revocable Trust and that defendant refuses to negotiate fairly, it may become necessary for an estate lawyer or probate attorney to litigate to have your inheritance returned.
Whether an estate dispute rises to the level of a will contest is an issue to be determined by an experienced estate lawyer, who can honestly evaluate the merits of the case with a client. In a Last Will and Testament dispute, an heir usually has some basic facts to support he has been unfairly omitted from the will, removed from the trust, or not included in the estate administration or probate process. An experienced probate lawyer must investigate these facts to determine whether a case exists. A good, aggressive estate lawyer combines the client's beliefs with the opinion of the estate attorney. He then adds the Florida statutory and case law that establishes clear rules regarding probate litigation and grounds for contesting the validity of a will. Together these will assist the client in making the final decision on whether to retain an estate attorney. Adrian Philip Thomas is very capable of combining these numerous factors to advise potential clients.
Evaluating facts and evidence with an experienced lawyer like Adrian P. Thomas may lead to the conclusion that grounds exist to support a lawsuit for an undue influence claim (challenging whether the testator freely and voluntarily made a will) or a lawsuit based on lack of testamentary capacity (challenging whether the testator had sufficient mental capacity to understand the nature, details and ramifications of a Will). Regardless of the actual lawsuit filed, the analysis must be done in a comprehensive manner by an experienced probate lawyer before engaging in estate litigation or a probate challenge. For example, the estate attorney may discover that the witnesses to the Last Will and Testament did not sign in the presence of the testator or each other, which causes the will to be invalid, and presents additional grounds to file a lawsuit.
Trust litigation challenges the validity of a revocable or an irrevocable trust. It may include a trust construction proceeding, where an estate lawyer is hired to seek court interpretation and adjudication of the document language to determine the rightful trust beneficiaries. Trust construction occurs when the trust document is unclear or is contradictory regarding the identity of beneficiaries, the allocation of estate and/or income taxes, the interests of lifetime beneficiaries, interests of remainder beneficiaries and the operation of gift and distributive property provisions. Trust reformation is another specialized area of trust litigation. Here, the court is asked to reform or change a trust, either to fix a trust problem or to modify it to reflect the true intention of the testator. However, most trust disputes are based on the grounds of undue influence and lack of mental capacity, similar to those that exist in will contests.
Our law firm is located in central downtown Fort Lauderdale, Florida on historic Las Olas Boulevard, which is one block from the Fort Lauderdale courthouse where Broward County probate and trust disputes are usually litigated. Just two blocks north of our office is the Fort Lauderdale division of the Federal Courthouse which will also handle estate, trust and probate cases where the people litigating are from different states. South Florida is home to approximately 5.5 million people and with its intense population and geographical size, clients are uncertain as to whether the lawyers of Adrian Philip Thomas will handle a case in a specific geographical area. Our firm represents clients from the Tri-County area, which includes Broward, Miami-Dade and West Palm Beach Counties.
Broward is comprised of the following cities Coconut Creek, Coral Springs, Dania Beach,
Davie,
Deerfield Beach,
Fort Lauderdale,
Hallandale Beach,
Hollywood,
Lauderhill,
Lighthouse Point,
Margate,
Miramar |
Oakland Park |
Pembroke Pines |
Plantation |
Pompano Beach |
Tamarac |
Weston |
Wilton Manors.
Miami-Dade County has the following cities
Aventura |
Bal Harbour |
Bay Harbor Islands |
Coral Gables |
Hialeah |
Hialeah Gardens |
Homestead |
Key Biscayne |
Miami |
Miami Beach |
North Miami |
North Miami Beach |
Pinecrest |
Surfside.
While Palm Beach has the following cities
Boca Raton |
Boynton Beach |
Delray Beach |
Greenacres |
Highland Beach |
Hypoluxo |
Juno Beach |
Jupiter |
Lake Park |
Lake Worth |
Lantana |
Ocean Ridge |
Palm Beach |
Palm Beach Gardens |
Royal Palm Beach |
Wellington |
West Palm Beach.
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