When an individual with a vast amount of wealth dies, there can be a scramble by family members and others to fight for what they feel they should have received from the deceased party's estate. Celebrities are not immune to will contests and these court battles often become the focus in the media as the fight plays out in the public eye. Some of the most famous celebrity will contests and lawsuits include those that were initiated by Anna Nicole Smith of her billionaire husband's estate, by family members of singer James Brown towards his estate, by family members of Michael Jackson, by guitarist Jerry Garcia's family members, and most recently by individuals of Prince's estate. In each cases, lawsuits seemed to come out of the woodworks endlessly as everyone from ex-wives to children to long-lost relatives argued over what they believed was their rightful share.
Interested parties are entitled to contest the validity of a will during a court hearing in which the executor is appointed and in which the will is admitted to probate. In order to contest a will, a person needs to have standing, which means that they must hold some interest they would lose if the court allowed the will to be probated. A person who has standing can be someone
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who is either a beneficiary that was named in the will or can be someone who was named previously and then removed from a subsequent will. An individual who lacks standing does not have the right to contest a will and will not be successful if he or she attempts to do so. Generally, most wills are never contested.
If a will does end up being contested, the contest is rarely successful. This is due to the fact that the grounds upon which one can contest a will are very limited; there are only a few bases upon which someone can rely in order to initiate a will contest. These include improper execution of the will, unsound mind of the testator at the time when the will was either written or signed, fraud, and undue influence upon the testator. According to some studies, over 99 percent of all wills that are submitted for probate are admitted to probate. This statistic demonstrates how rare will contests actually are and, even when initiated, how unlikely they are to actually
succeed. When an action to contest a will is filed, "the probate process is usually suspended until the case can be heard or until interim administrators can be appointed to administer the estate while the contest is proceeding." This, in turn, can cause estates to be tied up for several years while the litigation plays out. Dealing with a contested will can also cause multi-million dollar estates to dwindle down to next to nothing, as the estate has to shell out attorneys' fees to defend itself against the contest while still managing the taxes, mortgages, and countless other expenses. There are a few ways for individuals to guard their estates from becoming the subject of a will contest by family members or by those who feel that they are merely seeking out what should have been left to them in the first place. The first is through a no-contest clause, which does not actually prevent will contests but rather means that a beneficiary stands to lose any interest in the estate if they are unsuccessful in their contesting of the will. However, if a will that contains this clause is contested on grounds such as the incapacity of the testator at the time the will was signed, the no-contest clause is unenforceable and the contest will be successful. The two other ways to lessen the probability are by entering into a written agreement with a beneficiary that states he or she will not contest the will or by putting all property into a living trust. When her 90-year-old billionaire husband died 18 months after their wedding, Anna Nicole Smith claimed she was entitled to half of his $1.6 billion estate. J. Howard Marshall, however, had left Anna Nicole almost nothing in his will. She filed a will contest in a Texas probate court, claiming that her deceased husband had made oral promises to her that she stood to inherit a sizeable portion of his assets when he died. She also argued that his son, E. Pierce Marshall, had committed fraud in order to preclude her from inheriting anything from the state. Although he showered her with expensive gifts and money throughout their short marriage, he failed to put what he allegedly promised to her into his will. The jury did not believe Anna Nicole's claims and ruled unanimously against her, awarding all of J. Howard's assets to his son. However, this judgment would not be the end of her battle with the Marshall family over her husband's vast holdings, as court proceedings would continue on for 15 years. Unbeknownst to the jury at the time, Anna Nicole had already filed another case with a bankruptcy court in California, claiming that a sexual harassment suit she was involved with had forced her into bankruptcy. This time, the court ruled in her favor and awarded her $474 million from J. Howard's estate.
Case name: Peter K. Dementas v The Estate of Jack Tallas, 764 P.2d 628 (1988)
The limits of obedience to authority is an overall good idea and. In the short story, “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, supports the thought that blind obedience will only lead to bad things. Authority does not have to be a person; it can be an item or belief. Obedience to authority can lead to the destruction of that group and groups should never blindly follow anything, especially when they feel as if it is wrong. Obedience should be regulated and only occur when the demand of authority is rational and reasonable.
Every case is different and due to the loss of life can be very highly contested by the other party. We’ll make sure that your case is fully in order and brought forward within the complexities of South Carolina laws. It is important to note that a wrongful death action in South Carolina can only be brought by or in the name of the executor or administrator of the deceased person. Also, important to note that any damages that are rewarded in a wrongful death case are divided among the spouse and children, parents or other heirs in accordance to shares that they would have been entitled to as if the deceased party died without a will in force and the recovery had been part of the personal assets of the estate. It is complexities like this that mandate proper legal counsel to ensure that these matters are tended to with the full force of the
The lawyers begin the process of a wrongful death lawsuit by negotiating a settlement. If they fail to come to an agreement, the case may go to court for a judge or jury to decide the amount that the family will receive.
charitable bequest in their wills — even though no nonpro fit has asked them to do so.This leaves
In California, the spouse or domestic partner of a deceased individual can all file wrongful death lawsuits on the deceased behalf. The children and the stepchildren of the deceased may also file a wrongful death lawsuit. Additionally, if the deceased had a will that appointed a specific person as the personal representative of their estate, they can file a wrongful death claim, regardless of family relationships.
Before you take any actions towards acting on behalf of the deceased you must figure out who can actually act on behalf of the
If someone in your family passed away, and you feel that another person was responsible for it, you could have a wrongful death case on your hands. Since you most likely have never had to deal with a situation like this before, here are some common mistakes you might make when making your claim.
Have you ever wondered how some athletes have gotten so good at a certain sport? Have you ever thought about what they did in order for them to get this good? For some the answer is simple; workout and train. But for others the answer is different; the use of performance enhancing drugs such as steroids. There are some people that argue that steroids should be legalized and allowed in professional sports. Other people argue that steroids should not be allowed. Today I am going to state my opinion and justify my reason. Steroids should not be allowed in professional sports because it can be very dangerous to the athlete’s health, it is a way to gain and un-fair advantage and it can be dangerous in both social and physical aspects.
Eggs came first. Millions of years before mammals, eggs existed, their hard shells unlike her mammalian sister who waddles around, heavily crippled with the burden of her womb. Eggs conferred evolutionary advantage.
Imagine dedicating your life to a university not only on the academic level, but also the athletic level. With a full scholarship your time is dedicated to getting to class on time, finishing assignments, and making it to mandatory practices while also maintaining a strict workout schedule. With your day pretty much full of responsibilities, you do not have the time for a job to pay for anything that you may need outside of tuition, books, and housing. If your car breaks down or you run out of gas you have to pay for that out of your own pocket which is fairly difficult when you do not have an income to cover the costs and if you accept money or free services from any businesses, you could lose you eligibility as a NCAA athlete and lose your
Roe v. Wade: the Supreme Court case legalizing a woman's right to choose abortion has been around our entire lives. In 27 years, memories of back alley clinics have faded - the past is past, right? Wrong. It's too soon to start taking reproductive freedoms for granted. The next president will appoint two or three Supreme Court justices, potentially changing the Court's position on this pivotal case. George W. Bush supports the Republican call for a constitutional amendment outlawing abortions; do you think he, if elected, would appoint pro-choice justices? And why is it that while the majority of Americans support choice, the majority of Congress votes anti-choice? Are we supposed to just stand by and watch as the government tries to legislate our bodies?
Competition is a way to express yourself like no other. Being able to work together in a group and compromise is a skill you will learn when competing. Consequently, doing this at such a young age increases your understanding of real life situations that may occur in the future. As a student, you will learn valuable lessons while competing within your group, like understanding you can not win at everything in life. Competing does not mean you will be successful. To complete a task as quickly as possible, you have to find out how to cooperate with others in a reasonable manner. Showing leadership within your team and guiding each other toward success is a positive aspect for students. Working as one will build character and give others strong
I should receive a passing grade in this class because I can write now. Not just an exaggeration, but after another semester of English I finally feel confident that can write. Three of the reasons behind my confidence is I learned, I experienced and best of all I repeated. These three values helped prepare me for what is in store in English 1302 and here is why.
The benefits of having a will greatly outweigh not having one. Unfortunately, many of us are simply uninformed, while some come up with the wrong reasons to avoid having to make a will.