Iowa Estate Plan

 Check out my post on the pre-mortem will contest on the Probate-Iowa blog.  Too tired to click and just want the short answer?  Can't do it in Iowa.  Have to wait until the person dies before you challenge the will.

As I discuss in more detail on the post on my Iowa probate blog , a recent ruling from the Iowa Supreme Court significantly changes the time period in which to bring a lawsuit for interference with inheritance.  In short: don't wait very long .

You gotta love email.  In seconds, I can transmit a message around the globe to one person or to hundreds of people, or I can share a photo of my dog, Georgia.  Or you can email your parents' attorney and tell the attorney what changes to make to your parents' estate plan to exclude one of your siblings.  Whoops. In  Estate of Boman , decided earlier this year, the on-going feud between two sisters and their brother, plus a little "spice" mixed in with the stepmother, resulted in jury trial supporting the claim of undue influence for a will and also intentional interference of inheritance by the sisters.  The court's ruling specifically identified the numerous email communications from the sisters to their dad's attorney as significant evidence supporting the brother's claim.  While the brother (will contestant) was not able to successfully support his claim of lack of capacity as his evidence failed to find lack of capacity for "the day the will ...

In a ruling issued today by the Iowa Supreme Court , the Court provided some clarity on undue influence cases in Iowa. Family patriarch, Louis Burkhalter, had at least two sons, William and Steven.  Louis' revocable trust initially provided that son William, then his wife and son, would be the beneficiaries of the trust. After the death of William, his wife and his son, the trust would be distributed to Louis' heirs.  As Louis, who was now 98 years young, become to decline in health, his other son, Steven, traveled back from California and talked to dad about his trust.  Following their conversation, the trust officer and attorney jumped into play and a new trust was signed dividing the trust assets equally between William and Steven.  Good thing for Steven as dear ole dad then died 6 days later. Half wasn't enough for William, so the attorney-gloves came out and the challenges for undue influence and interference with an inheritance were made by William.  Th...

The Iowa Court of Appeals issued a ruling today affirming a ruling of an appeal in a will contest case.  The contestants to the will were basing their argument that the testator (decedent) lacked sufficient capacity to execute her will as she suffered from certain delusions as to certain family members/beneficiaries.  According to the ruling, certain medical evidence was properly excluded as the proposed evidence related to medical information after the execution of the will, and not during the time period the will was executed.  In other words, any evidence concerning the testator AFTER the signing of the will may not be relevant in determining capacity at the time of signing the will.  In this case, the testator was diagnosed with cancer after signing the will and was under medication for that treatment.  The contestants also objected to the jury instructions used in referring to the delusions.  The Court rejected the appeal and affirmed the findings of t...

The Iowa Court of Appeals had a recent ruling on a will contest based on a claim of undue influence and lack of "brotherly love". Mom left her substantial estate to one of her two sons, and disinherited the other son completely. The disinherited son challenged the will based on undue influence and lost, then filed an appeal. The Court of Appeals goes through a thorough analysis of the undue influence elements in a challenge to a will. Those elements being: (1) susceptibility to undue influence; (2) opportunity; (3) disposition to unduly influence; (4) result which is the effect of undue influence. Of interesting note is the fact that apparently there was a recording of her estate plan changes. While it is not clear whether these were video or audio taped, the court indicated the recording corroborated the attorneys' statements about her susceptibility. The use of a recording, in my opinion, could cut both ways in supporting a will. For example, if a recording is ma...