Are You Planning Your Estate or Helping a Loved One Plan Theirs?
Estate planning can be a difficult task to tackle. You, your parents, and your grandparents all worked hard so that they could take care of themselves and their families throughout their retirement and even after they are gone. You want to make sure your estate goes where you planned for it to go; plus, how daunting is it to plan for the end of your life?
We would like to think that anyone who helps someone else plan their estate has only good intentions, but sadly, that is not always the case.
You may be wondering what steps you can take to protect yourself and your loved ones from outside influence when planning an estate.
What Is Undue Influence?
Legally speaking, undue influence is an equitable doctrine that involves one person taking advantage of a position of power over another person. You may think that a position of power comes from someone who holds some kind of authority over you. In reality, all it takes for someone to have a position of power is some kind of imbalance of authority.
This can be as simple as someone of sound mind taking advantage of someone who may not have all of their faculties. This can also be a professional who works at the nursing home and cares for your loved one or even yourself. This person has a unique power over the residents that they care for. Even worse, this person can be a family member that an elderly person trusts. When this person takes advantage of the trust given to them, they have exerted undue influence.
Some things that may tip you off that your loved one is or was under undue influence may include:
- Your loved one’s will leaves the property in a way that you would expect under normal circumstances. Suppose they leave out a family member or members that you know they would have wanted included in their will.
- Someone influenced your loved one to include them in their will, substituting the wishes of the will-maker with their own wishes.
- The distribution of the will-maker’s estate does not appear to follow the previous conversation you have had with that person.
- The distribution of the will-maker’s estate favors one child over the rest.
- Someone is included in the decedent’s will that you don’t believe would have normally been included.
- The decedent shows signs of abuse, either before or after their passing. Someone who intends to take advantage of them would not be above physically abusing an older adult in order to get their way.
How Can You Identify Undue Influence?
There are a few ways someone may be able to identify undue influence. Be vigilant and pay attention; your unique perception of events may be the difference between your loved one’s estate being fairly distributed and someone gaining off of their influence over your loved one.
If someone is attempting to isolate your loved one from their friends, family, and others that they love in order to try to gain favor from them in order to get their name on that will, you may be witnessing undue influence.
Perhaps you notice someone becoming more and more involved in your loved one’s planning of their estate. New people who are suddenly involved in estate planning are worth keeping an eye on.
You can keep an eye on your loved one’s financial accounts. Be sure to find out who has access to their accounts and who can make decisions for the account. New names showing up on your loved one’s account are definitely worth your concern.
How Can You Prove Undue Influence?
Proving undue influence can be a rather difficult task. Think about it; the person who knew exactly how they intended their estate to be used and distributed is no longer around to ask questions. So, if their estate is being distributed in a way you feel goes against their wishes as you knew them, it can be hard to prove it.
Because of this, courts must rely on witness testimony and evidence in order to prove undue influence. People who knew the deceased, such as doctors, healthcare providers, family members, caregivers, lawyers, and other advisors, all make amazing witnesses that can either confirm or deny the involvement of undue influence.
What Should You Do If You Suspect Undue Influence?
Suppose your loved one is still doing well, but you notice some shady business regarding the planning of their estate or unfamiliar actions being taken in their financial accounts. In that case, you may have the urge to protect yourself and investigate to make sure their wishes are being honored.
More so, if your loved one has unfortunately passed away and you are only starting to suspect someone influenced them during probate, you may feel violated, like someone took advantage of them at their most vulnerable. Not only do you want their estate to be divided as they intended, but you also want the person who took advantage of your family to be held accountable.
The first step you should take is to call 614-228-3664 to schedule a consultation where you can speak with a compassionate legal team about any suspected undue influence. The Lawrence Law Office team is here to help you identify undue influence and, in the case of undue influence, what your options are.
Don’t hesitate. If you suspect you or your family members are being taken advantage of then speak with an experienced team that can not only identify this foul behavior, but hold that person accountable!
