Sorry for no posts as of late—I’ve been tied up preparing for, and then engaged in, a lengthy trust litigation case in which the jury, after a 6 day trial in Pulaski County Circuit Court, returned a significant verdict for our clients. I’m just now trying to catch up on other work, but hope to resume regularly [...]
Archive for the ‘Recent Arkansas appeals’ Category
Arkansas Court Of Appeals Rules Dying Woman Not Competent To Execute Deed
Posted in Breach of fiduciary duties, Misappropriation of assets, Recent Arkansas appeals, Rights of beneficiaries, tagged competent, confidential, deed, duress, incapacity, invalid, mentally impaired, Pulaski County, trust, undue influence on May 2, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Arkansas Court Of Appeals Rejects Cousin’s Attempt To Set Aside Gifts To The Decedent’s “Yardman”
Posted in Interpretation of wills/trusts, Powers of attorney, Recent Arkansas appeals, Rights of beneficiaries, Will contests, tagged competency, deceased, impairment, incompetent, mental capacity, power of attorney, quitclaim deed, revocable trust, undue influence, will on March 13, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
One common thread running throughout this blog since its inception has been the issue of competency, i.e., the ability of a person to make informed decisions. Conflicts often arise when ill or elderly people are claimed to have made signficant decisions regarding disposition of their property shortly before they died—sometimes the decision will be legitimate, the culmination of some long, thought-out [...]
Court Rules Testator Was Not Under Insane Delusions When He Revoked His Will
Posted in Interpretation of wills/trusts, Recent Arkansas appeals, Rights of beneficiaries, Will contests, tagged Arkansas lawyer, intestacy, intestate, revocation, revoke, will, will contest on February 25, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
It has been estimated that well over 1/2 of all Americans do not have a will. I personally know many attorneys that do not even have a will, even though virtually every Arkansas lawyer passed a bar examination covering wills and trusts and more than likely also took a decedents’ estates class in law school. Whether [...]
Court Rules Handwritten Note Found By Deceased’s Mother Did Not Result In Change Of IRA Beneficiary
Posted in In the news, Interpretation of wills/trusts, Recent Arkansas appeals, Rights of beneficiaries, Will contests, tagged arkansas, Court of Appeals, handwritten, holographic, IRA, will on February 11, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
As previously discussed on this Blog, a common fact scenario in estate, trust and probate lawsuits involves an eleventh-hour change in a dying person’s final wishes regarding their property. Quite often the last-minute decision appears legitimate, although occasionally there is an aura of suspicious facts and circumstances surrounding the event which arises to the level of an “inheritance theft.” [...]
Arkansas Court Of Appeals Affirms Trial Court’s Ruling In Will Contest
Posted in Recent Arkansas appeals, Will contests, tagged appeal, Arkansas Supreme Court, Crawford County, will contest on December 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Earlier this month the Arkansas Court of Appeals ruled in an appeal from the Crawford County Circuit Court that the trial judge did not err in denying a motion to dismiss and finding that the statutory formalities for execution of a will had been satisfied. Specifically, in Baxter v. Peters, No. CA 09-594, a dispute arose between [...]
Questions About Notarized Document Result In Reversal Of Trial Court’s Ruling
Posted in Powers of attorney, Recent Arkansas appeals, Rights of beneficiaries, tagged arkansas appeal, notaries, notary public, power of attorney, signature, will on October 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
More times than I can count since I started practicing law, I have been involved in lawsuits in which the authenticity of a signature on a document was a primary disputed issue in the case. Whether our law firm was representing the plaintiff who was suspicious of a signed document, or instead representing the defendant who was insisting upon the validity [...]
Newly-Discovered Assets In Old Estate Result In New Litigation
Posted in Duties of executors, Recent Arkansas appeals, Rights of beneficiaries, Rights of creditors, tagged arkansas, assets, creditors, estate, Fayetteville Shale, insolvent, probate, solvent, tennessee on October 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
A recent decision from the Arkansas Court of Appeals in Ellingsen v. King, 2009 Ark. 655 (October 7, 2009) illustrates how some long-forgotten but newly-discovered property can often send family members and creditors scrambling for their piece of the pie. This interesting case involved Mr. McAlexander, who died in 1988 a resident of Shelby County, Tennessee. An [...]
No Breach Of Fiduciary Duty In Unique Trust Lawsuit
Posted in Breach of fiduciary duties, Duties of trustees, Misappropriation of assets, Recent Arkansas appeals, Self-dealing, tagged assets, Breach of fiduciary duties, encumber, mismanagement, Self-dealing, trust, trustee on October 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Arkansas Court of Appeals recently ruled in an interesting case that a trustee’s encumbrance of trust property did not, under the specific circumstances involved in the dispute, constitute a violation of the trustee’s fiduciary duties. Ordinarily such actions are looked down upon, but this case is an instance in which the unique facts involved apparently warranted a slight departure [...]
