Disputes in Probate Court

Most probate cases sail through court without any arguments from family members or creditors. The executor handles the paperwork, the required waiting periods pass, and eventually everything is transferred to the people who inherit it. 

On the other extreme are the cases that show up in the newspaper headlines: wealthy families torn apart by allegations of undue influence and shady dealings involving the family fortune. But there is a whole set of other disputes, no less bitter, among ordinary families of ordinary means. Old resentments rise to the surface, and relatives who mistrust each other can't work things out and take their disputes to the judge. Disputes arise most often when there's a surprise in the way assets are left--for example, when a second wife or girlfriend inherits the lion's share, with little going to the children from a previous marriage; or when a nephew nobody knows well receives a very large gift and closer relatives are passed over.