Background

Our client came to RMO to bring a case against her infirm aunt’s neighbor, who had manipulated her way into becoming the primary beneficiary of her deceased aunt’s trust, unwinding years of estate planning favoring the aunt’s family. 

Our client had a close and loving relationship with her aunt, who had promised to provide for her through her trust, where she was named beneficiary to ½ of her aunt’s estate. The aunt lived alone in a retirement community and was receiving care for an injury she sustained a couple of months before her death. The aunt’s neighbor took advantage of the situation and began to gain control of the aunt socially, emotionally, and financially. Two months prior to the aunt’s death, the neighbor contracted an estate planning attorney who drafted an amendment that made the neighbor the trustee and sole beneficiary of the trust, disinheriting our client. The aunt executed the amendment. 

Solution

RMO made a motion at the outset of trial to shift the burden of proof to the neighbor, requiring her to prove by clear and convincing evidence the trust amendment was not the product of undue influence. RMO’s motion was granted, putting the wrongdoer in the inevitable position of trying to prove a negative, and by a heightened standard. The neighbor presented evidence but was unable to meet her burden, which was confirmed when RMO successfully moved for judgment in favor of its client, arguing that the neighbor did not meet her burden of proof.

Results

The court ordered judgment be entered in favor of RMO’s client for the value of the estate, double damages penalties for the neighbor’s financial elder abuse, and found that the trust amendment was not only the product of undue influence but also executed at a time when the decedent lacked testamentary capacity. The court also awarded attorneys’ fees and costs in favor of RMO’s client, which was added to the judgment.