Will Contest Results

If you are looking for a law firm to handle your will contest, look no further than the Law Offices of Albert Goodwin. We have a record of success in both contesting and defending wills. You can send us an email at [email protected] or give us a call at 212-233-1233 to find out more about how we at Goodwin can make our record of winning work for you.

Contesting a Will

In will contests, our results speak for themselves:

$1 Million Settlement. Successfully obtained a $1 million settlement for our client by attacking on two fronts, in a will contest and a challenge to a bank account name change. The client’s brother died leaving his entire estate to his neighbor. The will was not easy to contest at first, as there was a prior guardianship proceeding over the brother where a court evaluator deemed the brother mentally fit and was of the opinion that the brother was upset with the client. Things got better when the attorney who drafted the will admitted in a deposition that the neighbor was an acquaintance of the attorney’s husband’s and the neighbor arranged the appointment and drove the brother to the attorney, whose office was in a different borough than where the brother resided. It also became apparent that the neighbor was exerting a tremendous amount of influence over the brother and was essentially in charge of his finances. We then found a large bank account had our client’s name but her name was later removed with only the brother’s name remaining. We brought a lawsuit to challenge the removal of her name, claiming the name removal was fraudulent. With the combination of the will contrest and the bank account name change challenge, we were able to secure a $1 million settlement for our client.

$2 Million Settlement. We used an elective share to circumvent a will. The executor who is the son of the deceased from the first marriage claimed that any money he received from his father is not a part of the estate and that the father’s widow is not entitled to the funds. We utilized the law that any money transferred within a year before death is a part of the augmented estate for the purposes of calculating the elective share, and agreed on a $2 Million settlement for the widow.

$840,000 Settlement. The decedent’s daughter was left 12.5% of a $3.5 Million estate by her father’s will. Our firm pointed out irregularities in the will and possible issues in the decedent’s capacity to make a will, and negotiated an increase of her share to 37%.

Numerous other settlements with substantial dollar amounts. We have also won numerous other will contest settlements with substantial dollar amounts.

Defend Against a Will Contest

In will contest defense, our results speak for themselves as well.

$500,000 Defense. The client’s husband died while overseas. The client and her husband lived in different states for some time. The deceased husband’s sister challenged the client, saying that she and the husband were estranged and their marriage was no longer valid. After our persuasive advocacy, the sister relented and gave up her challenge, with our client not paying a penny in a settlement.

$700,000 Defense. The client’s brother was left out of the will, brought a will contest. In one of the emails from our client, we noticed something was different in the way she was referring to her brother. We asked more questions, and it turned out that both of them were adopted. Upon further investigation, it turned out that the brother was never formally adopted, and as such, had no standing to contest the will.

Numerous defenses of estates of substantial sizes. We have won numerous will contest defenses in estates of substantial sizes.

Whether you need to contest or defend a will, we at the Law Offices of Albert Goodwin are here for you. You can send us an email at [email protected] or give us a call at 212-233-1233.