Florida Probate Blog

In a word, yes. In a blow to the unwed in the State of Florida, the Fourth District Court of Appeal recently held that an operating agreement entered into by a deceased business owner (the “Decedent”) trumped his stated testamentary intent to provide his longtime girlfriend with a lifetime payment of $5,000.00 per month, which was to be paid out of distributions from the company the Decedent formed with his sister.  Blechman v. Estate of Blechman, 160 So.3d 152 (Fla. 4th DCA 2015).  Despite the fact that the Decedent in Blechman had amended his trust to “to provide a ‘specific gift’ of his residence and ‘one half of the distributions from [his company], to’ a trustee for the benefit of  the Decedent’s girlfriend,” the Court refused to uphold the trial court’s order, which would have ensured the Decedent’s girlfriend received the $5,000.00 per month gift the Decedent’s estate plan provided. […]

Florida law is well established that when a will is challenged on the grounds of undue influence, the influence must amount to over persuasion, duress, force, coercion, or artful or fraudulent contrivances to such an extent that there is a destruction of free agency and willpower of the testator.   As probate litigators, we frequently encounter situations where a court is presented with circumstances suggesting that a elderly person has unfortunately been taken advantage of by their own spouse.  Most often the wrongdoer is a person who marries the victim just prior to death and changes the victim’s estate plan to disinherit family members who were previously the intended beneficiaries of the victim’s long standing estate plan. One such case was recently presented in Palm Beach County, Florida where the court upheld the challenge by a testator’s daughter who sought to invalidate the will that was executed a year after the […]

Whether in the context of a divorce proceeding or when a couple is preparing their estate planning together, some people agree to a contract to subsequently make a Will or Trust that names another as the primary beneficiary.  This primarily (but not always) takes place when a married couple enters into a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement and in said agreement, they each agree that they will each sign a Will that makes the other person a beneficiary. What if in this agreement, they both agree that they will never revoke or amend such a Will regardless of divorce?  What if one of them changes the Will after the divorce?  What happens when that person dies? Florida Courts have dealt with similar situations and have held that such an irrevocable contract to make a Will can be made binding and damages may be sought against the breaching party’s estate.  In Boyle […]

ADDRESSING THE ISSUE OF CREDITOR CLAIMS FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF THE PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE One of the significant issues a Personal Representative of an Estate needs to address is that of the claims against the Estate by creditors. To administer an estate in an orderly manner, the Personal Representative must ascertain what debts and claims are to be paid by the estate, because no assets should be distributed until the Personal Representative is certain that these debts and claims can be paid. Florida Statute 733.212 states that “the Personal Representative shall promptly make a diligent search to determine the names and addresses of creditors of the decedent who are reasonably ascertainable, even if the claims are unmatured, contingent or unliquidated.”  A diligent search must be undertaken, and such a  search depends on the familiarity of the Personal Representative with the decedent’s affairs. It should include a careful review of the defendant’s […]

Fla. Stat. § 732.518 provides that “[a]n action to contest the validity of all or part of a will or the revocation of all or part of a will may not be commenced before the death of the testator.”  Essentially this means that interested persons cannot contest a will until after the death of the person who made the will.  But what if you know that your elderly family member or loved one has been taken advantage of by a caregiver and you want to protect him or her now? Fortunately, the Florida Legislature has provided a means of not only protecting vulnerable, elderly adults, but also punishing those who exploit them for personal gain.  Fla. Stat. § 415.1111 provides a civil cause of action against a caregiver or person who stands in a position of trust and abuses that trust through neglect, deception, or intimidation in order to defraud […]

Mental Inequality as a Factor in Undue Influence Lawsuits As most probate litigators will acknowledge, one of the primary arguments for revoking a Will is that it was procured through the undue influence of another.  Florida courts have defined “undue influence” as over-persuasion, duress, or coercion by one over the settlor of a Will to such a degree that the Will reflects the wishes of the undue influencer as opposed to the settlor.  A key component in assessing and determining the merits of an undue influence claim is whether there existed a substantial and cognizable inequality between the mental sharpness between the settlor of the Will and the alleged undue influencer.  Although medical and mental health records are often reviewed and submitted for evidence in such cases, this factor of ‘mental inequality’ is different than alleging that the settlor lacked testamentary capacity to execute such a Will in the first […]

Proving that a will was procured by the undue influence of another can sometimes be difficult.  Often, this type of conduct occurs in secret, away from the watchful eyes of family and loved ones and involves the victimization of an elderly, ill person at the hands of someone he or she trusts.  Florida law recognizes this realty and the legislature has provided a means by which plaintiffs may not only prove undue influence, but also shift the burden of proof so that that defendant must offer his own evidence. Fla. Stat. §733.107 provides that, when contesting the validity of a will, the burden of proof shifts.  First, the proponent of the will, i.e. the defendant, must establish that the will was properly executed.  If the defendant initially proves that the Will was signed and properly witnessed, then the burden to prove undue influence shifts to the plaintiff.  Fla. Stat. § […]

It has come to our attention that an individual claiming to be Attorney Adrian Thomas is contacting people around the country about buying and selling time shares.  This is a SCAM.  Do not give this individual any information about you or about your bank accounts.  The man calling leaves a message that he is “Attorney Adrian Thomas” calling about timeshares and leaves the following callback numbers:  321-200-0097, 321-250-6903, 321-250-9121.  Directions are sent to send money to the Dominican Republic via Western Union.   The matter has been reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Trade Commission.  If you are contacted by someone claiming to be Attorney Adrian Thomas about a timeshare, please provide this office with the information so we can pass it along to the FBI. If you have lost money through this scam, please log on to www.ic3.gov to file a complaint with the FBI. Thank you to those of you who took the […]

Can a court consider extrinsic evidence when asked to modify a trust under the judicial modification statutes even if the trust instrument is unambiguous?  YES! Historically, common law rules of construction provided that the intent of a settlor of a trust should be ascertained from the “four corners” of the trust and that extrinsic evidence of the settlor’s intent should only be considered if there was an ambiguity in the trust instrument.  The effect of this common law rule was that a trustee or beneficiary seeking to modify the terms of the trust would only be permitted to do so if the court found that the trust, or a portion thereof, was ambiguous.  Absent ambiguity, the court was unable to consider any other evidence of the settlor’s intent and the beneficiaries were stuck with whatever the trust said on its face.  The old analysis changed when Florida adopted the Florida […]

Florida Statute § 736.0406 Effect of fraud, duress, mistake, or undue influence.— If the creation, amendment, or restatement of a trust is procured by fraud, duress, mistake, or undue influence, the trust or any part so procured is void. The remainder of the trust not procured by such means is valid if the remainder is not invalid for other reasons. If the revocation of a trust, or any part thereof, is procured by fraud, duress, mistake, or undue influence, such revocation is void. In 2006, the Florida legislature passed into law the new Florida Trust Code. Of the numerous provisions codified into statute under Chapter 736, about 40% were found in prior Florida law, while roughly 60% were based on the Uniform Trust Code, a non-binding, model legal code utilized to form the basis for various state laws throughout the country.  Although comprehensive in scope, Chapter 736 does not purport to address […]