Attorney Adrian Philip Thomas is the managing partner in a boutique, six-attorney law firm that concentrates its practice on representing clients with estate, will, trust, and probate issues in addition to representing clients who are prosecuting or defending 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 and 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 or dishonest behavior.
Mr. Thomas represents clients in the following practice areas:
When representing beneficiaries, heirs, charities or family members, estate lawyers should first attempt to negotiate an honest, fair and prompt response to the estate dispute or probate problem. Whether a will contest, trust litigation or probate lawsuit, if the case is resolved without the need for litigation it must be done by 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 has improperly placed himself or herself into a Last Will and Testament or Revocable Trust and that defendant will not 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 grounds or facts to believe he or she has been unfairly omitted from the will, removed from the trust or not included in estate administration or probate process. An experienced probate lawyer must investigate these facts to determine whether a case exists. A good, aggressive estate lawyer should combine the client's beliefs with the opinion of the estate attorney; add the Florida statutory and case law that establishes clear rules regarding probate litigation and grounds for contesting the validity of a will which together will assist the client in making the final decision whether to retain an estate attorney. Adrian Philip Thomas is very capable to combine these numerous factors to advise potential clients.
The evaluation of the facts and evidence by an experienced lawyer like Adrian P. Thomas may lead to the conclusion that grounds exist to support a lawsuit for an undue influence claim (which challenge whether the testator freely and voluntarily made a will) or a lawsuit to challenge a will based on a person's lack of testamentary capacity (when the testator does not have 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, sometimes the evaluation by the estate attorney discovers that the witnesses to the Last Will and Testament did not sign in the presence of the testator or each other which would cause the will to be invalid and thus present additional grounds to file a lawsuit.
Trust litigation arises when the validity of a revocable or an irrevocable trust is challenged. A trust contest may include a trust construction proceeding where one or more parties hire an estate lawyer to seek court interpretation and adjudication of the language of the document to determine the rightful beneficiaries during trust administration. 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 a specialized area of trust litigation that asks the court to reform or change a trust to fix a trust problem or to modify a trust so it reflects the true intention of the testator of the trust. However, most trust disputes are based on the similar grounds of undue influence and lack of mental capacity claims 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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