Deck 52: Decedents Estates and Trusts

Question 1

Bill Cruxton, single and 80 years old, left the, bulk of his $500,000 estate to a waitress at Dink's Restaurant in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. He had lunch and dinner there every day and was grateful for the fellowship and service. His relatives challenged the will with the provision on the grounds of capacity. Could they have the will set aside?

Answer 1

Incompetent Party:
An individual lacks the capacity to contract when that person is:
•A child or has not reached the age of majority. This might seem obvious, however contracts that have been signed by a minor have been considered valid.
•Mentally ill or insanity. In order for a contract to be valid and enforceable the parties must be competent. Persons who have documented mental illness or insanity are not competent. That doesn't mean that an incompetent person cannot sign a contract; instead it means that the terms of the contract are not enforceable once the person's incapacity has been established. If a person lacking the mental capacity signs and fulfills the terms of a contract, their incapacity might come into question depending upon the complexity of the completed contract.
•Under the influence of drugs or alcohol. This is interesting because the government will consider a person to have capacity while driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but incapacitated when signing a contract.
Hence, a person who is mentally competent, sober, and of legal age may be considered a competent party.
Undue Influence:
Undue influence occurs in an agreement between parties where one party is in a superior or authoritative position over the other and either expressly or implicitly influences the inferior or subordinate party into an agreement against their will. This type of agreement is voidable at the victim's discretion.
The elements to undue influence in the case of a will include the following:
1. The existence of a confidential relationship.
2. The person receiving benefits of the confidential relationship receives the bulk of the estate.
3. The deceased testator was incompetent or his/her intellect was weakened.
Opinion:
The family of person BC could have the will set aside if there were any evidence of his weakened intellect. Merely stating that person BC was not competent is not evidence of his mental status.
Challenging the will on the basis of competency based on person BC's age is not sufficient to overturn a will unless there was undue influence. Additional factors would be the size of the estate. If person BC had left a considerable fortune to the waitress a court may sustain an argument of undue influence if his capacity was also legally in question.
Therefore, based on the argument of age with no other factors, a finding of incompetency in order to have a will set aside is unlikely.

Question 2

Valerie and Flora are the beneficiaries of a trust left to them by their mother upon her death. Their mother named Art Casanelli, a family friend, as the trustee. Flora has seen Art driving a new car and has learned that he just purchased a new and rather large home. She is concerned about the trust funds and Art's unfettered access to them. How can she determine whether Art is using trust funds? What happens if she finds that he is?

Answer 2

A trustee is someone who manages a trust (property transferred to them) to benefit beneficiaries of the trust.
Trust beneficiaries have a right to examine the funds used in the trust by the trustee. The trustee is supposed to keep the funds for the beneficiaries and not inappropriately use it himself.
The beneficiaries can sue the trustee if their funds are used.

Question 3

Can a murderer inherit property from his victim? Why or why not?

Answer 3

A murderer of a victim will not be able to inherit his portion of the will, in case the victim had left anything to him.
However, the rest of the will is valid and the non-murdering beneficiaries will receive their share and perhaps more.

Question 4

James Horne's will provides that his estate is to be distributed to his heirs per capita. Upon his death, two of his three children are surviving and his deceased child left two children (James's grandchildren). His will provides that all his property is to be distributed per capita to these children and grandchildren. How will the property be distributed? How would it be distributed if he had provided for a per stirpes distribution?

Question 5

Craig delivers bonds in the amount of $100,000 to White in trust to hold and to pay over the income in quarterly payments to Craig's niece, Helen, during her minority. Who is the settlor or creator of the trust? Who is the trustee? Who is the beneficiary?

Question 6

A decedent's will provided that the estate was to be divided among the decedent's Issue, per capita and not per stirpes. If there are two surviving children and three grandchildren who are children of a predeceased child at the time the will is probated, how will the estate be divided?
a. One-half to each surviving child
b. One-third to each surviving child and one-ninth to each grandchild
c. One-fourth to each surviving child and one-sixth to each grandchild
d. One-fifth to each surviving child and grandchild

Question 7

Joseph McKinley Bryan was an elderly, wealthy, and eccentric man. Before his death, he had made provisions for a testamentary trust for his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Under the terms of the trust, each grandchild who survived him was to receive $500,000, and each greatgrandchild who survived him was to receive $100,000. By the time of Bryan's death on April 26, 1995, there had been at least five versions of the trust's provisions. His will was originally dated June 29, 1990, but the trust agreement was originally made in 1985, with two changes in 1988, one in 1990, and another in 1992. In May 1995, NationsBank Corp., the trustee, notified Bryan's grandchildren by letter that they would be receiving only $100,000. Because the grandchildren had understood that they were to receive $500,000, they asked to see the trust agreements. The trustee refused, contending that there was no duty to share the agreement with the trust beneficiaries. Was the trustee right? [Taylor v NationsBank Corp., 481 SE2d 358 (NC App)]

Question 8

Rose Lakatosh was a woman in her early to mid- 70s in March 1988 when she hired Roger Jacobs to do odd Jobs for her around her home in Northampton, Pennsylvania. Rose, who had no contact with her family except for an occasional visit from her sister Margaret, became very dependent on Jacobs for her physical care, and he began to assist her with her financial affairs. In late 1988, at Jacobs's suggestion, Rose executed a power of attorney making Roger her attorney in fact. At the same time that she executed the power of attorney, Rose executed a will leaving all of her property, with the exception of $ 10,000 to her church, to Roger.
Rose was, at the time of Jacobs's involvement with her, also the defendant in a slander lawsuit brought against her by her nephew. Three days after Rose had executed her will leaving her property to Jacobs, her attorney in the slander lawsuit petitioned the court to have her evaluated for competency. Her lawyer said she could not provide information for discovery in the case did not remember things, and could not seem to grasp how much property she owned. While the lawsuit progressed and the competency issue remained unresolved by the court Rose died with the will leaving her property, to Jacobs still valid. Rose's relative, Donald Spry challenged the will on the grounds of mental incapacity and undue influence by Jacobs Did Rose.lack the mental capacity necessary to make a will? [ In re Estate of Lakatosh, 656 A2d 1378 (Pa Super)]

Question 9

Iona wrote her will. The following year, she wrote another will that expressly revoked the earlier will. Later, while cleaning house, she came across the second will. She mistakenly thought that it was the first will and tore it up because the first will had been revoked. Iona died shortly thereafter. The beneficiaries named in the second will claimed that the second will should be probated. The beneficiaries named in the first will claimed that the second will had been revoked when it was torn up. Had the second will been revoked?

Question 10

Logsdon, who had three children, disliked one of them without any reason. In his will, he left only a small amount to the child he disliked and gave the bulk of his estate to the remaining two. On his death, the disliked child claimed that the will was void and had been obtained by undue influence. Do you agree? [Logsdon v Logsdon, 104 NE2d 622 (Ill)]

Question 11

Field executed a will. On her death, the will was found in her safe deposit box, but the part of it containing the fifth bequest had been torn from the will. This torn fragment was also found in the box. There was no evidence that anyone other than Field had ever opened the box. A proceeding was brought to determine whether the will was entitled to be probated. Had the will been revoked? Was the will still valid with a portion torn from it? [Flora v Hughes, 228 SW2d 27 (Ky)]

Question 12

Miller wrote a will that was 11 pages long and enclosed it in an envelope, which she sealed. She then wrote on the envelope "My last will testament" and signed her name below this statement. This was the only place where she signed her name on any of the papers. Was this signature sufficient to allow this writing to be admitted to probate as her will? [Miller's Executor v Shannon, 299 SW2d 103 (Ky)]

Question 13

Lingenfelter's will was offered for probate and was opposed. The testatrix was sick, highly nervous, and extremely jealous, and she committed suicide a week after executing the will. She had, however, seemed to understand the will when she discussed it with an attorney. The will disinherited her husband because she feared he was not faithful to her despite the fact that he was seriously ill when she wrote the will. He died the day after she executed the will, and she grieved his death terribly for one week before committing suicide. Did she have the capacity to make a will? Should it be admitted to probate? [In re Lingenfelter's Estate, 241 P2d 990 (Cal)]

Question 14

Copenhaver wrote a will in ink, which was found with her other papers in her bedroom at her death. Pencil lines had been drawn through every provision of the will and the signature. There was no evidence as to the circumstances under which this had been done. Was the will revoked? Why or why not? [Franklin v Maclean, 66 SE2d 504 (Va)]

Question 15

George Baxter executed a will that left the bulk of his estate to the Church of Christ in New Boston, Texas. Two members of the church served as the witnesses for the will. Is the will valid? [In re Estate of Gordon, 519 SW2d 902 (Tex)]

Question 16

Jeanette Wall worked for D. J. Sharron for many years. Sharron executed a will leaving his entire estate to Jeanette. He reexecuted the same will sometime thereafter with the same provisions. Sharron's children contested the will, offering evidence that Sharron was a very sick man, physically as well as mentally, and that Wall was active in Sharron's business as well as his personal life. They offered no evidence that Wall had any involvement in the procurement of the original or the reexecuted will. Who is entitled to the estate? Why? [Wall v Hodges, 465 So 2d 359 (Ala App)]