In an estate to be divided between the 14 second cousins on decedent’s maternal side and the half-blood uncle on decedent’s paternal side, the half-blood uncle takes one-half of the estate and the other half is divided equally among the ...

Tagged with: Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr. Supreme Court of Virginia Wills & Trusts

The dueling estates of a husband and wife were left to duke it out in court when the husband died months after filing notice that he wanted a share of the estate of his wife, who left him out of ...

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

Plaintiffs alleged that a self-proving will dated Oct. 7, 2004, was the last true will and testament of the decedent. That will divided the decedent’s estate fairly equally between her three children, Carroll Mauck (defendant) and Roxie Lutz and Bobbie ...

Tagged with: Judge Dennis Lee Hupp Shenandoah County Circuit Court Wills & Trusts

Although plaintiff and decedent husband divorced in 1995 and in 2000, decedent designated defendant, his widow, as beneficiary of his federal Thrift Savings Plan benefit, that designation was invalid because it could not be witnessed by defendant who was a ...

Tagged with: Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Randy I. Bellows Virginia Circuit Courts Wills & Trusts

Special needs trusts (SNT) may be created when a beneficiary is unable to manage funds due to a mental or physical incapacity, and/or where a beneficiary requires or may require government benefits, the qualification of which may be threatened by ...

Tagged with: Elder Law Wills & Trusts

The revocable living trust (RLT) is a very useful and popular estate planning tool, recommended by most estate planning attorneys across the U.S. and used as the central estate planning document by millions of Americans. The primary benefit of the ...

Tagged with: Elder Law Wills & Trusts

A 1992 will is presumed lost, based on evidence that the lawyers who drafted and witnessed the will and whose law firm no longer exists, delivered the will and trust documents to a bank and the bank has been unable ...

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

WASHINGTON — The legal issue that spelled defeat for the estate of the late model and reality star Anna Nicole Smith in the long running battle over her late oil tycoon husband’s estate is, once again, before the justices of ...

Tagged with: Bankruptcy U.S. Supreme Court Wills & Trusts

A successor trust may sue a former trustee for allegedly failing to pay premiums on an $800,000 life insurance policy meant to fund the trust for the benefit of plaintiff trustee and his sister as beneficiaries of the trust set ...

Tagged with: Judge Melvin R. Hughes Jr. Richmond Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts Wills & Trusts

Although decedent’s son claims he may pursue a claim for wrongful denial of decedent’s bank funds because the estate has no creditors or beneficiaries, the Harrisonburg U.S. District Court dismisses the son’s suit alleging a bank’s refusal to honor a ...

Tagged with: Judge Michael F. Urbanski U.S. District Court - Western District Wills & Trusts