On Behalf of Zigray Law Office, LLC | Jul 28, 2020 | Probate Litigation

When a loved one passes away, it isn’t uncommon for family members to become entangled in a dispute about their inheritance. If you will be the executor to your parents’ estate, you can end up having to deal with these squabbles and may need to work with an estate litigation attorney to resolve them.

Before you end up at that point, here are 7 reasons these inheritance disputes begin:

1. You will be sharing the estate executor duty with someone else.
2. Someone believes your loved one changed their will because of undue influence. Often, if your parent or loved one needed care in their last years, a caregiver could see that as an opportunity to influence them to change their will. You should pay attention to how close your parent or loved one is with their caregivers and watch for signs that they are receiving pressure to change their will.
3. You and your siblings or the other beneficiaries have a large disparity in income. Those who have a significantly lower income may try to convince other beneficiaries to split their inheritance differently.
4. A beneficiary has an addiction or mental health problem. In either case, an inheritance dispute can start because the person with the addiction or mental health issue wants a greater inheritance. Your loved one can avoid this by setting up a special needs trust to better manage the inheritance for this family member.
5. One sibling or beneficiary already has received part of their inheritance before your loved one passes away. Lots of families have family members who struggle to support themselves. Perhaps, your parents bailed out your sister, so she didn’t have to foreclose on her house after a divorce. This could become an issue among your siblings when you distribute your parents’ assets.
6. You and your siblings don’t have a relationship, or your siblings were estranged from your parents and maybe even left out of the will.
7. Your parent had a late-in-life marriage and didn’t update their will. Now, their spouse wants their assets, and you and your siblings are unsure how that will affect your inheritance. Your parent can avoid this by updating their will to include their spouse, but also protect their children’s inheritance.

Grief over the loss of a parent or loved one quickly can turn into frustration and anger during the settling of an estate. Making sure your parent or loved one has an updated will, which wasn’t drafted under pressure from anyone, is a good first step in avoiding a dispute over the estate.

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On Behalf of Zigray Law Office, LLC | Jul 15, 2020 | Will Contests

Suddenly finding out that you were left out of a loved one’s estate plan can throw shockwaves throughout your life. There’s the emotional pain associated with the thought of your loved one intentionally leaving you out of their will or trust, but there might also be anger at the thought of your loved one being forced to cut you out of an inheritance. You might also be worried about what your future will look like without the inheritance that you had come to expect. After all, that may not just affect you, but your children and grandchildren as well.

If you’re in this position, then you shouldn’t just sit back and accept how things have played out. Instead, you should consider legal action to fight for what you deserve and what your loved one intended. As we mentioned in a previous post, there are a number of ways to contest the validity of a will, including showing forgery, fraud, undue influence, the presence of a superseding will, or a lack of competence on the testator’s part. These arguments aren’t just accepted by the court, though. In fact, estates and those who ended up with the inheritance that should have been yours often aggressively defend against them.

This is why you’ll want to think about securing legal assistance before you address these matters. An attorney who is experienced in this area of the law will know how to spot evidence to support your position, which may or may not be readily apparent. This might involve taking depositions, engaging in other discovery practices to obtain pertinent records such as those pertaining to your loved one’s mental health, and delving into case law to see how similar cases have played out.

At the Zigray Law Office we focus on estate and probate litigation. As such, we know the ins and outs of this area of the law, which allows us to competently represent our clients in these challenging matters. As a result, time and again we have reached favorable outcomes for our clients, whether that means reaching a settlement at the negotiation table or litigating a case in court. Since issues come up with wills and trusts all the time, we stand ready to continue to stand up for Toledo residents who feel that they and their loved one’s estate has been cheated.

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On Behalf of Zigray Law Office, LLC | Jul 10, 2020 | Power Of Attorney

Ohio adults with elderly parents might suspect that someone is taking advantage of their parents’ old age. Your parents might have assigned someone to be their financial power of attorney – someone who has access to their finances to manage and pay the bills. If you believe that person is now abusing their responsibilities, you have the right to be concerned.

A power of attorney assigns a person, called an “agent,” to act in good faith for “the principal,” or the elderly person in need of assistance. In this case, the principal would be your parents.

If you believe that the agent is disrespecting your parents’ wishes, you will need to prove it. The following are some common ways agents might abuse their power:

• The agent is not following the power of attorney instructions.
• The agent is not checking in with your parents regularly.
• There have been late or missed payments for your parents’ care.
• There have been sudden changes to your parents’ care, such as moving them to a different facility or terminating any special care they receive.
• The agent’s lifestyle has suddenly changed, such as purchasing a new car or expensive jewelry.
• The agent prevents you or other relatives from visiting with your parents.

A power of attorney should provide your parents with peace of mind that someone is looking after their finances responsibly. However, someone might use this new financial access to pay off their own bills or purchase luxury goods for themselves. This abuse of power can seriously affect your parents’ well-being and should be stopped immediately.

It can be challenging to prove that the agent abused their power. However, an attorney with experience in these types of cases can help you build a case and protect your parents from further abuse.

Your parents should be able to put their faith in their chosen agent and trust that everything will be okay. By taking legal action, you can try to correct the damage that an irresponsible agent caused.

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On Behalf of Zigray Law Office, LLC | Jul 6, 2020 | Guardianships

Many people in the Toledo area have probably used a durable power of attorney to name a loved one or other trusted person as their attorney-in-fact.

In Ohio, an attorney-in-fact, which the law also calls a person agent, has a lot of power.

Unless it is limited in some way, the agent will have complete access to a person’s bank accounts and other finances, and they also have the authority to conduct business and handle property on the person’s behalf.

Usually, this arrangement proves quite helpful, especially if the person cannot handle his finances on his own anymore.

However, sadly, sometimes an attorney-in-fact will abuse his position and start taking money and property for his own purposes, sometimes without authority to do so.

In other cases, the agent me mean well enough but make lots of careless mistakes that cost a family a lot of money.

Of course, if the person who created the power of attorney is competent to do so, she may always simply fire the agent by revoking the power of attorney.

In other cases, though, interested parties, including a court-appointed guardian, may have to go to the appropriate court and ask a judge for an order to remove the attorney-in-fact.

In order to have the attorney-in-fact removed, the person will need to show that she violated Ohio’s laws. Behavior like self-dealing, acting outside the authority given in the power of attorney, and even serious but honest mismanagement of property can be grounds for removal.

On a similar note, an agent who acts in violation of the law, and causes financial damage as a result, is liable to repay the person’s estate out of her own funds. She may also be ordered to reimburse for attorney fees and costs. Other legal options may be available.

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On Behalf of Zigray Law Office, LLC | Jun 24, 2020 | Farm Inheritance Disputes

Fifty years of existence means 50 years of tilling your farm’s land, harvesting its crops and milking its cows. That is how long your 800-acre farm has been in the family. And you understand that the chances of it remaining in your family another 50 years seem unlikely.

Still, you want to protect your farm’s legacy, your assets as well as family harmony. You wonder how to do that, especially when it comes to farm inheritance disputes. The answer: You head them off at the pass. You anticipated potential problems and unpleasant surprises upon your death, so you have created a will.

Loving to feuding siblings

Time and time again, loving siblings become feuding siblings with contested farm estates. However, probate litigation may be unavoidable even with a will.

Problems may come to a boiling point, especially if at least one of your children has been farming the land alongside you. They may think that they are entitled to inheriting the farm, since they have helped build it, work it and invested in it – not just in labor but in the machinery, cattle and crops as well.

But then the non-farm heirs desire their share, too. Selling the farm is a logical option. Or maybe during the transition after your death, your heirs decide to keep the farm as “headquarters” for annual pheasant or deer hunting trips. Still, resolution is necessary. But, in the meantime, the farm is still in operation and financial decisions must be made.

If your family farm winds up in probate litigation, long-term fallout may result. Such an aftermath involving a family dispute would break your heart. Please understand that the relationships among your heirs – your children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews – may never be the same.

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On Behalf of Zigray Law Office, LLC | Jun 17, 2020 | Will Contests

Losing a loved one is never easy. The emotional turmoil it can cause in more than enough to contend with, but the aftermath of a loved one’s passing can become much more complicated when issues arise with their estate plan. A will may appear to have been the product of coercion or undue influence, a trust may have been created without the requisite capacity, and estate funds can be mismanaged. All of these situations can have serious ramifications for you and your family, as well as for the legacy that your loved intended.

Therefore, if you think that wrongdoing has molded your loved one’s estate plan or is affecting the way that the estate is being managed, then you might want to think about seeking out legal assistance. Fortunately, the probate court allows you to challenge the validity of critical estate planning documents like wills and trusts, and you also have the ability to bring a claim for a breach of fiduciary duty. Succeeding on these matters is about much more than simply filing some paperwork, though. Instead, you need to be ready with evidence to support your case.

This is where the assistance of a skilled probate litigator can come into play. These legal professionals possess a deep understanding of the law in this realm, and they know how to gather the crucial evidence you need to build a compelling case. This might include documentation like medical records, or it might simply be based on witness testimony, such as that pertaining to an individual’s history of manipulative behavior perpetrated against your lost loved one. There’s no one-size fits-all approach to these matters, though, so you need representation that will treat your case like their own, giving it the attention it deserves.

So, if you feel like you were wrongly left out of a will or trust, don’t simply let it slide. On the contrary, think about reaching out to a legal professional who can give you a realistic idea of where your case stands and what your best options are moving forward. After all, that may be not only the best way to secure that to which you are entitled, but also the best way to protect what your loved one envisioned for the future.

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On Behalf of Zigray Law Office, LLC | Jun 11, 2020 | Probate Litigation

Most people understand the importance of a will. These legal documents outline a person’s final wishes and how they wish to divide their belongings, real estate and money among heirs. A will also names an administrator or executor, usually a close family member, who the deceased trusts to distribute those assets. So what happens when someone dies without these instructions?

When a person dies without a will, they have died “intestate.” Every state in the U.S. has unique intestate laws that determine how to distribute property in the absence of a will.

Ohio’s intestate laws

Like most states, Ohio’s intestate laws build off the 1990 Uniform Probate Code, with some variation. When a person dies (the decedent), with or without a will, their estate enters probate court. Then an assigned administrator distributes the estate following these steps:

1. Inventory the estate: The administrator must identify and appraise all probate assets. Non-probate assets include anything owned by the decedent with a named inheritor or beneficiary. These assets include jointly owned property like a family home, insurance policies or retirement benefits. The administrator must have all other assets professionally appraised within three months.
2. Assemble the assets: Sometimes, other individuals may possess the decedent’s assets at the time of their death. The administrator must locate and collect all assets for proper distribution. Recovery may require one or more lawsuits.
3. Pay debts and taxes: Creditors have six months to claim a debt from the decedent’s estate. An administrator must then pay all valid claims from the estate’s cash. If the estate does not have enough cash, the administrator will liquidate assets to satisfy those debts. If the estate still lacks funding to pay creditors, the probate court will determine priority.
4. Distribute the remaining assets: If any assets remain, the administrator must then distribute them among surviving family members and claimants to the estate. These complex rules account for several unique arrangements of surviving family members, but the court will prioritize the decedent’s surviving spouse and children.

Legal counsel can help

Those whose loved one has recently died without a will may want to reach out to a local attorney familiar with probate for advice. A lawyer can help assess an estate, locate non-probate assets or help file a claim with the administrator.

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On Behalf of Zigray Law Office, LLC | Jun 9, 2020 | Will Contests

All parents understand the importance of a comprehensive estate plan that considers the needs of surviving family members. For parents with multiple children, drafting a balanced plan is easier said than done. How does one decide what is “fair” when each of their children has different needs?

Though they may be gone, however parents split their inheritance is likely to result in conflict among siblings. Surviving children may find that grieving for a parent is challenging, especially when coupled with an “unfair” inheritance.

Tactics for dividing an inheritance

Colleen Carcone, director of wealth planning strategies at the Teacher’s Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA), recommends a few ways parents can build “fair” estate plans — beginning with the parents’ definition of fair:

• Equal-dollar distribution: Many people expecting a “fair” inheritance will balk when they see their parents left an equal-dollar distribution plan. Children who helped their parents through illness may feel they deserve more, or heirs may resent their already wealthy siblings.
• By need: Some siblings may need the money left by their parents, especially when compared to more financially solvent siblings. Singling out inheritors for receiving more is likely to create conflict, as some heirs may see this as punishment.
• Deduction of money gifted: Some estate plans deduct money already gifted to siblings previously. This inheritor will likely feel slighted.
• For the family business: If parents owned a family business, their children might now run it. When drafting their will, parents may consider bequeathing an increased dollar amount to the children in charge.

Carcone suggests that parents should speak to their children about their end-of-life plans. Open discussion rooted in respect and a desire to do what’s best can help provide heirs a needed perspective. Making these decisions family decisions can also help repair family dynamics after the parent passes.

Draft a comprehensive will with legal help

Many families have found success in drafting comprehensive estate plans with help from a local attorney familiar with will and probate disputes. A lawyer can focus on the dense legal paperwork while the family can work together to divide the estate fairly.

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On Behalf of Zigray Law Office, LLC | Jun 8, 2020 | Probate Litigation

When a person dies, their assets enter a legal process called probate. During the process, a court looks at the deceased’s wills, trusts and insurance policies to divide an estate per the deceased’s wishes.

Unfortunately, probate is not cheap. Court fees and fines stack up quickly. When combined with estate taxes and liquidating assets to pay the deceased’s debts, many beneficiaries end up feeling cheated out of their inheritance. Other parties may increase costs by contesting the probate litigation, believing they benefit instead of the party designated in the will. What can a family do to prevent these losses?

Four methods for preserving an inheritance

Individuals have several estate planning options that can help their families work around probate quickly and affordably. The following methods can help a family preserve what is theirs:

• Trusts: Setting up trusts can tuck away money or assets until after one’s death. Many different types of trusts exist to satisfy different needs. Certain trusts can make assets exempt from estate and income taxes.
• Joint property: An easy way to ensure a spouse or children receive specific property is by making them joint owners. People usually designate the family home or vehicles as joint property.
• Gifts: Savvy individuals take advantage of 2017’s annual gift exclusion tax law. Under this law, an individual may gift unlimited gifts of up to $14,000 per recipient per year, tax-free. Spouses can pool their gifts together, allowing $28,000 per recipient per year, exempt from taxes.
• Roth IRA: Unlike traditional retirement plans, a Roth IRA avoids tax deductions upon withdrawal by paying taxes on the amount beforehand. Additionally, a Roth IRA does not require the account holder to begin withdrawing money after a certain age.

Consult with legal professionals

Proper estate planning with an attorney can help avoid losses during probate. People with questions about wills, trusts or setting up an IRA can find answers with a local lawyer familiar with probate litigation.

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On Behalf of Zigray Law Office, LLC | Jun 5, 2020 | Will Contests

For many, the passing of a loved one can bring unforeseen conflicts that add to the grieving process. Issues may arise regarding the decedent’s estate that can create division among family members and, if these issues are not resolved, they will have long-lasting effects on relationships and possibly even financial matters. If you are having issues with a loved one’s will and you are wondering whether you have the right to seek legal action, note that there are some qualifying elements for will contests.

First, whether you can contest a will depends on your standing to do so. Generally, someone with standing is someone who is already listed on the will or someone who might otherwise be a beneficiary should the will prove to be invalid.

That said, beneficiaries may contest a will even if they are not a relative. They simply need to be named on the will. In addition to spouses and children, beneficiaries may include friends, organizations like charities or churches and synagogues.

Why might someone challenge a will?

Reasons to challenge a will vary depending on circumstance and relation to the deceased. You may believe your loved one was taken advantage of prior to updating their will, or that the will itself is fake. Arguments in contesting a will may include:

• Forgery
• Fraud
• Undue Influence
• There is a newer will that takes precedence
• Questions regarding the decedent’s state of mind during the drafting of the will (or, questioning their testamentary capacity)

If you believe you have legitimate reasons to contest a will, understand that the process may be complicated and you will need evidence and standing on your side.

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