Since ancient times, the wealthy have sought to ensure their assets are distributed the way they intend and to foil any effort by survivors to undermine their estate plans. The practice continues, with wills and trusts using language that revokes ...

Tagged with: Justice D. Arthur Kelsey Supreme Court of Virginia News Wills & Trusts

Where appellant claimed that deeds of sale her mother executed gave a 100 percent interest in the conveyed property to appellant, a 2015 final decree that voided the deeds precludes further litigation. We affirm the circuit court’s ruling that appellant ...

Tagged with: Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn Supreme Court of Virginia Wills & Trusts

Where the decedent’s will created a trust, and the designated trustee predeceased the decedent, the income from the residuary estate goes to the trust beneficiaries, a group of charities, and not to the decedent’s blood relatives, who were “explicitly and ...

Tagged with: Judge David W. Lannetti Norfolk Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts Wills & Trusts

Where a jury found that the decedent’s purported will was the result of fraud and undue influence, a plaintiff’s release of claims against the estate in exchange for an early distribution is invalid. Overview Nell Willis reached an accord and ...

Tagged with: Fairfax Circuit Court Judge John M. Tran Virginia Circuit Courts Wills & Trusts

Virginia courts are taking a close look at questionable estate plans. A Virginia jury this month decided that a widow’s will – leaving the bulk of her estate to the lawyer who wrote her will – was procured through undue ...

Tagged with: Judge John M. Tran Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn Supreme Court of Virginia News Wills & Trusts

Where the decedent’s will excluded one of his sons if he was still married to the same spouse as when the will was executed, this condition encourages divorce and will be struck from the will on public policy grounds. Facts ...

Tagged with: Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Robert J. Smith Virginia Circuit Courts Wills & Trusts

Even though a widow’s suit for an elective share of her husband’s estate was served on the personal representative, the failure to name the personal representative as a defendant or otherwise mention her in the complaint made the suit a ...

Tagged with: Justice Elizabeth A. McClanahan Supreme Court of Virginia Wills & Trusts

Where the testator’s will left everything to his niece, his daughter was entitled to a presumption of undue influence but the presumption disappeared once the niece provided sufficient evidence to rebut it. As a result, the burden of persuasion remained ...

Tagged with: Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons Supreme Court of Virginia Wills & Trusts

The “Important Opinions” that appear each week on the front page of Virginia Lawyers Weekly are those chosen by our editors as the most likely to impact law practice or a given subject area of law. Below is a listing, ...

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By Alexander A. Bove Jr. and Melissa Langa BridgeTower Media Newswires Before she died, one of your long-term clients appointed you as trustee of a family trust for the benefit of her three children, currently ages 18, 23 and 28. ...

Tagged with: Wills & Trusts