Many people are unaware that, in order for a will to be valid, it must have been signed by the testator in the presence of two witnesses. However, even more people are unaware that the witnesses must also sign the will in the presence of the testator. According to O.C.G.A. § 53-4-20(b), a “will shall be attested and subscribed in the presence of the testator by two or more competent witnesses.” Generally, should evidence be provided that a testator did not personally see the witnesses sign his or her will, the probate court must refuse to probate the will. However, there is a precedent called the “line-of-vision” test. This test allows that the testator doesn’t actually have to watch the witnesses sign the will so long as the testator could have watched the witnesses sign if desired without moving or changing his or her position. One example of a case in which the line-of-vision test was utilized is Chester et al. v. Smith. In this case, the deceased, Sara Elizabeth Campbell, signed her will in a car in the parking lot of bank before a bank employee. The bank employee then took the will inside the bank and asked two… [Read More]
Georgia Probate Lawyer: Can a Family Member Unduly Influence Someone in the Making of Their Will?
In a previous blog post, I discussed the case Bailey v. Edmundson, which provided an example of what a presumption of undue influence regarding the making of a will looks like. In Bailey v. Edmundson, it was somewhat easy to conclude that the deceased had been unduly influenced due to the overwhelming evidence that his caregivers had actively encouraged him to make his new will against his stated intent (even the day after executing the new will) to leave his property to his daughter. However, in cases where the facts are less black and white (like in a situation where the person who stands to benefit from a contested will is a family member or spouse), what can a court look to in order to reach a conclusion that a testator was unduly influenced? There is no strict criteria to prove undue influence; it can be supported by a wide variety of evidence which is almost always circumstantial, so there is no one set “checklist” of what needs to happen in order for a will to be found to have been the result of undue influence. For example, in cases that involve the possible undue influence by a spouse, the court… [Read More]
Atlanta Probate Attorney: Undue Influence in the Making of a Will
As an Atlanta probate attorney, I have assisted many clients regarding the estate of a loved one who was likely unduly influenced to create a will that did not reflect their true intentions. Undue influence is when someone uses their relationship with a testator (creator of a will) in order to convince them to write their will in such a way that it favors the influencer. A claim of undue influence can be supported by a variety of evidence, including “a confidential relation (relationship in which one party exerts power or “a controlling influence” over the other) between the parties, the [un]reasonableness of the disposition of the testator’s estate, old age, or disease affecting the strength of the mind.” The case Bailey v. Edmundson provides us with a concrete example of undue influence. After her father, Raymond Cudworth, passed away, Heather Bailey filed a will for probate which named her executrix and primary beneficiary. However, his caregivers, a Michael Edmundson among them, filed a different will for probate which they claim was executed in 2004, after the will Bailey filed. The will filed by Edmundson left bequests to Edmundson and the other caregivers and significantly reduced the amount of estate… [Read More]
Georgia Probate Attorney: Conflicts of Interest That Can Disqualify an Executor
It is important that the executor of an estate is chosen carefully and is a person who can unbiasedly act in the best interests of the estate. So what happens when the named executor in a will presents a conflict of interest? O.C.G.A. § 53-7-55 allows the court the discretion to deny issuance of or to revoke letters testamentary when good cause, like a conflict of interest, is shown. For examples of conflicts of interest, we will look to the cases of In re: Estate of Moriarty and In re: Estate of Farkas. In In re: Estate of Moriarty, Catherine Moriarty petitioned to be executor of the estate of her husband, Edward Moriarty. Catherine was named executor in Edward’s will. However, Edward’s daughter, Maureen Weare, filed a caveat and petitioned to have Moriarty disqualified as executor, because Catherine had a conflict of interest with her representation of the estate. Catherine was not a beneficiary under the terms of the will; however, she did maintain a joint account with Edward which she claimed was payable to her by right of survivorship (i.e. not a part of the estate). After the Court disqualified her as executor, Catherine appealed the decision, stating that… [Read More]
Georgia Estate Attorney: Recovering Attorney’s Fees from an Executor Who Breached Their Fiduciary Duty
In a previous blog post, I discussed reimbursement of attorney’s fees for people acting on behalf of an estate in both general code terms with O.C.G.A. § 53-7-45 and in a more specific example in the case of Estes v. Collum. In this blog post, we will discuss the reimbursement of attorney’s fees directly from a personal representative rather than from estate funds. Attorney’s fees can be recovered directly from an estate’s personal representative in cases in which that representative is acting in bad faith (for their own personal interest rather than the interest of the estate). An example of one such case is In re Estate of Zeigler. In Zeigler, the executor of an estate did not want a house belonging to the estate to be transferred to the beneficiary who rightfully should have received it according to the deceased’s will. Therefore, the executrix made arrangements for the house to be sold to her friend, giving her friend a check in the amount of $65,000 for the purchase price. The purchase price was considerably lower than the house’s market value of $88,000. The buyer then paid the $65,000 back to the executor, which she deposited into her personal bank… [Read More]
Atlanta Probate Lawyer: Recovering Attorney’s Fees for Actions Taken on Behalf of an Estate
For many people, the thought of the fees associated with hiring an attorney can be a stressor. However, when deciding to pursue legal action in an estate, potential clients should be aware that there is legal precedent for reimbursement of attorney’s fees from the estate’s funds. These fees can be legal fees for the normal course of events in the distribution of an estate or even legal fees as a result of contesting/removing a current personal representative. The Official Code of Georgia Annotated (OCGA) provides in §53-7-45 that “personal representatives [of an estate] are authorized to compromise, adjust, arbitrate, assign, sue or defend, abandon, or otherwise deal with or settle debts or claims in favor of or against the estate.” If the personal representative does not want to pursue a matter, they can assign the matter to a creditor or heir/beneficiary who can then pursue it on their behalf. If that person succeeds in her pursuit and thereby brings funds into the estate her attorney’s fees and expenses may be reimbursed from the estate. The case Estes v. Collum provides an example of a different kind of situation which may warrant an award of attorney’s fees. In Estes, the estate administrator was wrongfully holding property… [Read More]
Georgia Probate Lawyer: How Can I Know if an Executor Has Breached Their Fiduciary Duty?
As an Atlanta probate attorney, I have assisted many clients with performing their duty as executor of an estate. The job of being executor can be difficult because fiduciary duty is not easily defined or understood, especially to a layperson. An executor’s position is defined in the law as being “of the highest trust and confidence to heirs at law, and [an executor] is required to act in entire good faith.” However, this is not a very specific description, and it’s difficult to know what constitutes “the highest trust.” In order to better understand what a breach of fiduciary duty can be, we can look to the case Greenway v. Hamilton. Stanley Greenway was appointed the executor of his mother’s estate following her death. Greenway’s niece, Dina Hamilton, filed a petition for accounting following Greenway’s distribution of the estate. Greenway provided an accounting, to which Hamilton had objections. The probate court held a hearing on the matter and found that Greenway had breached his fiduciary duty, a position which was upheld by the Supreme Court of Georgia on appeal. Here are specific examples of how Greenway breached his duty: Greenway sold estate property to his wife for significantly less than… [Read More]
Georgia Probate Attorney: Estate Planning to Avoid Potential Probate Disputes
As an Atlanta estate planning and probate attorney, I have had many clients who found themselves tangled up in familial discord because of the lack of proper estate planning done by their parents or other family members. The probate process can be difficult and stressful and can often result in feuds between family members if an estate is complicated or if the estate was not planned well. If you would like to know what happens in the probate process for an intestate estate (the estate of a person who died without a will), you can read my previous blog post on the matter. I discuss in this blog some ways to plan your estate and write your will so that your family can avoid lengthy probate proceedings as much as possible – and hopefully avoid conflict. One way to avoid ambiguity in your estate plan that may lead to familial conflict is to designate bank accounts which you intend to give to a specific family member as “payable on death” (POD) or “transferrable upon death” (TOD). A POD/TOD bank account pays out upon your death only to the specific person named as beneficiary on the account. This type of bank… [Read More]
Atlanta Probate Attorney: The Trouble with Joint Accounts
In my Georgia probate practice, I have had several clients who were left in an uncomfortable predicament during probate due to the deceased’s use of a type of bank account called a joint account. Joint accounts are accounts with multiple owners, usually two. The money in the account is considered the property of the person who contributed the money to the account. However, each joint owner has unfettered access to the funds in the account, and does not need the knowledge or consent of the other owner to conduct transactions on the account. Upon the death of one joint owner, all the funds in the account become the property of the other joint owner. The funds do not pass through probate, meaning they are not considered part of the decedent’s estate to be distributed among the beneficiaries regardless of the instructions left in the deceased’s will, which is where the trouble with joint accounts typically begins. Other than among spouses, joint accounts are terrible planning tools. It is natural that, upon a person’s death, he or she will want to leave control and ownership of an account to a spouse, and you rarely see litigation against a spouse that was… [Read More]
Georgia Estate Planning Attorney: Wills on the Cheap Cost More in the End
I’ve been an Atlanta estate planning and probate attorney for several years and am often entertained and sometimes shocked by some attempts people make to prepare their own Last Will and Testament either on their own or through an automated service like LegalZoom.com. I used to support companies like LegalZoom because I thought the documents they produced were foolproof, but I changed my mind after seeing what was supposed to be an easy process mangled either through the computer application or upon the execution of of the documents. I certainly sympathize with the customer concerned with costs and don’t blame LegalZoom for grabbing hold of a market niche, but too often the result is far from what the customer intended. (I’ve represented a lot of individuals in the past in business disputes resulting from the same problem: business partners too cheap to spend a few thousand dollars on a consult and some documents to protect their business and themselves from unknown legal risks. As a result, the partners often end up spending tens of thousands in litigation.) I’ve seen poorly drafted Wills make bequests to persons whom the testators had no intention of leaving property (at the cost of those… [Read More]
