Can you Change a Will without a Writing?
I cannot tell you how many times over the years a client has told me that despite what is written in the Last Will and Testament of their parent or grandparent or Aunt or Uncle, “s/he said that s/he was leaving the house to X,” or “she wanted Y to get more because he moved in and was taking care of her at the end” or “she gave a lot of money to Z and intended him...
Testator’s hostility toward the heir he excluded doesn’t necessarily invalidate the Will
In the recent case of In the Matter of Estate of Jameson , the New Jersey Appellate Division reiterated that there are limited bases to set aside a duly-signed Last Will and Testament. Kenneth Jameson’s Will disinherited his daughter and made various strongly-worded statements about his feelings about her alleged behavior toward him and about her relationship with someone of a...
Not all Discretionary Trusts are Special Needs Trusts
Over the years in my practice I have encountered many situations in which a discretionary trust was written into a Will to receive the inheritance of a person who had disabilities. Often the testator (person who was signing the Will) specifically wanted to protect the funds becuse they knew the person with disabilities relied on government programs like Medicaid or SSI. However, since the...