We generally contest a will or trust on
the BA or a validity of a deed or a
beneficiary designation by virtue of
undue influence or lack of capacity. So
for undue influence that’s basically
somebody has done something they
otherwise would not have done if it
weren’t for the words or actions of an
individual. A lot of times you see a kid
come in and they get mom or dad to favor
them over somebody else. Um, and so we
look at their involvement. First of all,
did they draft the document or did the
lawyer did a lawyer draft the document?
If a lawyer drafted it, was the alleged
undue influencer uh present at meetings
or present for the execution? Um, stuff
like that. With respect to capacity,
there are numerous types of capacities.
So um testimentary capacity is not
competency. It’s a much lower level of
capacity. Basically you need to
understand who are the objects of your
bounty. So spouse, children um you need
to know what are your assets and um have
an understanding of to that and then
also have a correct understanding with
respect to relationship with your
children. So, I could think that my
child um is wanting to harm me or um
hurt me. And if I’m wrong about that,
then I don’t have an accurate
understanding as to my children. But
undue influence is what we really see
the most and that’s what we prevail upon
the most.