Challenge to Will Relates Back to Earlier Complaint

Legal Assistant Can Assess Capacity

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 17, 2012
Tags: Justice Cleo E. Powell, Supreme Court of Virginia, Wills & Trusts

A lawyer’s legal assistant could determine that a hospitalized client had testamentary capacity to change her will to leave her estate to her daughter Mary Ann who cared for her, in contrast to an earlier will that divided the estate among her five children, and the Supreme Court of Virginia reverses the trial court decision [...]

No Will Transfer of LLC Interest

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 10, 2011
Tags: Justice William C. Mims, Supreme Court of Virginia, Wills & Trusts

Membership in a Virginia limited liability corporation may not be transferred by will, the Supreme Court of Virginia holds, and the daughter of a two-member LLC inherited only her father’s financial interest in the company to share in profits and losses, and not the right to remove its managing member and successor managing member. Admiral [...]

Woman Can Sue for Sister’s Funeral Costs

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 9, 2011
Tags: Judge Charles E. Poston, Norfolk Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts, Wills & Trusts

Although the Norfolk Circuit Court earlier dismissed plaintiff’s claim against her brother-in-law for performance of her deceased sister’s promise that plaintiff would receive $60,000 from her sister’s pension proceeds, plaintiff is not barred from pursuing a claim against her brother-in-law for payment of her sister’s $10,210 funeral expenses, under the common law doctrine of necessaries. [...]

Filings Too Late for ‘Unknown Heirs’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: October 17, 2011
Tags: Judge Melvin R. Hughes Jr., Richmond Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts, Wills & Trusts

A Richmond Circuit Court rejects efforts by persons claiming interests in real estate in Richmond which have been raised after this court already has declared defendant in this action to be the owner of the property. On June 2, 2009, Hartwell C. Macon Sr. and Dorothy P. Macon filed a complaint against unknown Heirs, Devisees [...]

Adult Adoption Cuts Off Inheritance

By Deborah Elkins
Published: September 20, 2011
Tags: Justice William C. Mims, Supreme Court of Virginia, Wills & Trusts

The Supreme Court of Virginia says the adoption of an adult has the same effect as the adoption of a minor, for purposes of intestate succession, and the three children of a woman who was adopted at age 53 by her aunt by marriage may not inherit from the estate of their mother’s biological sister, [...]

Beneficiaries May Sue for Excessive Gifts

By Deborah Elkins
Published: September 7, 2011
Tags: Judge Raymond A. Jackson, U.S. District Court - Eastern District, Wills & Trusts

Beneficiaries of a family trust and will may sue decedent’s stepdaughter, their aunt and the executrix of the estate and holder of a durable power of attorney granted by decedent, for breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty, for gifts she made to herself during decedent’s lifetime; a Norfolk U.S. District Court says plaintiff [...]

Heirs challenge capacity of woman to leave estate to charity – Defense Verdict

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: August 8, 2011
Tags: Alexandria Circuit Court, Wills & Trusts

Decedent was a 56-year-old female suffering from lung cancer that had metastasized to her brain. The will she executed on June 15, 2010 left her estate to three charities. She died on June 18, 2010. Her heirs-at-law were her two first cousins, who filed suit against the executor, Kenneth Labowitz, and the charities alleging decedent [...]

National Bank Must Qualify as Va. Fiduciary

By Deborah Elkins
Published: August 2, 2011
Tags: Fauquier County Circuit Court, Judge Jeffrey W. Parker, Virginia Circuit Courts, Wills & Trusts

A Fauquier County Circuit Court rejects a charitable remainder trust’s request to substitute J.P. Morgan Chase Bank NA as successor trustee to Bank of America NA, as J.P. Morgan Chase has not qualified as a fiduciary as it is not a corporation authorized to do business in Virginia. Pursuant to Va. Code § 26-59(B), no [...]

Jury overturns will, woman gets $2M

By Peter Vieth
Published: July 8, 2011
Tags: Hanover Circuit Court, Million-Dollar Verdicts, Wills & Trusts

A daughter left out of her father’s will has won a Hanover County jury verdict overturning the will and awarding her the entire $2 million estate. The jury decided an earlier contract written by her parents for her benefit took precedence over the father’s last will. The verdict effectively transfers the estate of Mechanicsville businessman [...]