The Case Of The Greedy Lawyer Relatives and The Innocent Elderly Aunt

An elderly lady signs an amendment to her Living Trust changing the disposition of her home from our client-- a favorite grandniece--to her cousins, who are lawyers. The Trust Amendment also changes the disposition of her money from going to a large charity to her lawyer cousins. The lady is mentally competent, but her mental functioning is impaired by age. After this lady passes away approximately six months later, the grandniece contacts my office. Through interviews, consultation, and other information sources, we learn that the signature on the Trust Amendment is too good to be true…for a lady who could barely see, and whose hand shook with age. The “perfect signature” was too perfect to stand up to legal attack. Result: our client, the grandniece, received the house the elderly lady intended her to ultimately possess. The charity, represented by another firm, obtained an undisclosed settlement.

 

The Case Of The Quarreling Siblings

We represent a middle aged man who took care of his mother for the last ten years before her death. Our client received the lions share of his mother’s Estate. Two quarreling siblings threaten litigation. We negotiate a settlement that brings peace to all three “children,” then refer our client to a securities lawyer for a securities claim included in his share of the Estate. Our client gets back almost the entire amount paid to settle out the Estate from the securities litigation.

 

The Case Of The Righteous Daughter

Our client brings us a Petition for Probate filed on behalf of two charities, which accuses our client, a two time Emmy award winner, of defrauding her late mother. The Petition includes filing for Probate of a Holographic Will that cuts our client completely out of the Estate. We attack the Holographic Will on several legal grounds. A later Will including our client as the primary beneficiary of the Estate surfaces, which is attacked on grounds of forgery. The result: our client gets the entire Estate, except for a modest charitable gift to a third charity mentioned in the later Will.

 

The Case Of The Slick Real Estate Brokers

Two sharp real estate operators get our client’s mother to sell them her apartment complex on unfair terms. Our client’s mother is alienated from her daughter, our client, due to dementia and a personality disorder, and they did not speak much for years before her mother’s death. After her mother passed away, our client discovered the unfair real estate deal and consulted with our offices. After extensive litigation, the matter settled with a recovery of the discounted price by our client, plus our client received a percentage of the appreciation in the value of the apartment building since the date of sale.

The Case Of The Vindicated Trust

A client contacted our office who did not have a good relationship with his only child. After giving monetary gifts to his daughter, the client chose to leave the balance of his Estate to charities and friends. We videotaped our client in an interview with a forensic psychologist to preserve the record of our client’s testamentary intent. After our client’s passing, the daughter filed a lawsuit, which was resolved in a satisfactory manner.

An Elderly Lady

An elderly lady, suffering from various ailments, is convinced by an “old friend” to apply for Medi-Cal. The elderly lady does get on Medi-Cal from which she derives only a modest benefit. Through manipulation, the “old friend” obtains ownership of the elderly lady’s home and life savings in order to “help” the elderly lady “qualify for Medi-Cal.” A lawsuit is initiated which results in a substantial recovery. An adult family member, with vast assets, sues my client to wrest control and possession of their parent’s multi-million dollar estate. After extensive litigation, involving multiple lawsuits which are defended, each sister gets an equitable share of their parent’s estate.

Mr. Stewart Levin, attorney at law, has successfully resolved numerous cases involving Estate and Probate matters. For a Free Consultation call 310.777.7550 or email me.  

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