A Fairfax County circuit judge has declined to uphold an arbitration clause in a trust agreement, and refused to send a dispute over the actions of a trustee to arbitration. Finding the controversy over the trustee’s actions had not arisen ...

Tagged with: Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Bruce D. White Wills & Trusts

Where the decedent’s will conveyed his farm property and home to his children, subject to his wife residing in the home and collecting cell tower rent until she was no longer “physically and mentally able” to reside in the home, ...

Tagged with: Justice Teresa M. Chafin Supreme Court of Virginia Wills & Trusts

Petitioners have established by clear and convincing evidence that the decedent intended an unwitnessed  document handwritten by another but signed by the decedent to constitute her will. Background About a month before she died, Watkins, the decedent, signed a document ...

Tagged with: Family Law Judge H. Thomas Padrick Jr. Virginia Beach Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts Wills & Trusts

A beneficiary’s declaratory action to determine rights and duties did not violate a trust’s no-contest clause. Background Charles and Theresa Hunter had two children, Chip and Eleanor, and a granddaughter. Charles and Theresa each created trusts naming the children and ...

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

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