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

Although a short will offered for probate had no page numbers, separately initialed pages, or paragraphs running onto the next page, it also presented no evidence of fraud or alteration. Accordingly, it was properly probated as the decedent’s will. Background ...

Tagged with: Justice Stephen R. McCullough Supreme Court of Virginia Wills & Trusts

Even though the owner of a servient estate had granted it to himself as trustee of a living trust, his subsequent easement – granted and recorded in his individual capacity – operated as a partial revocation of the prior transfer ...

Tagged with: Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge David Bernhard Real Estate Real Property Virginia Circuit Courts Wills & Trusts

Although a will passed the testator’s residual estate to his surviving spouse, its substantial limitations on uses and transfer indicated that she inherited the residual assets as a life estate, not in fee simple. Background James E. Feeney III died ...

Tagged with: Justice William C. Mims Supreme Court of Virginia Wills & Trusts