In Massachusetts a will is not effective until a court determines that is was properly executed, that the testator was competent, and that there is no reason that the will should not be "allowed." A will might not be allowed because the will was improperly executed or that the testator was not competent or that the will was procured through undue influence.
"Undue influence" is pressure placed on someone to make a specific provision in a will. The testator must have been susceptible to undue influence, he must have been subjected to undue influence, and must have succumbed to undue influence.
Specific evidence can tell us whether the testator was susceptible to undue influence. Is the testator frail or mentally weak or physically or otherwise dependent upon caretakers or others?
Proving that the testator was subjected to undue influence can be difficult, since if someone is trying to convince the testator to make a will in their favor, they are not going to do it in a public place. Sometimes we can presume that there was undue influence - such as the case in which the testator ignores his family to provide for a caretaker.
Gail Posner lived in Miami Beach with her dog named Conchita. She left a $3,000,000 trust fund to provide for Conchita and several other dogs, and she left her housekeepers and bodyguards $26,000,000. Some of them were granted the right to remain in her mansion rent-free to care for Conchita. Gail left her son $1,000,000.
Gail's son has filed suit, and ultimately a court will rule on the estate plan. The fact that so much was left to caretakers raises a red flag at once (would it be a bad pun to say that it would start the dogs barking?) This fact, together with Gail's eccentricity at the end of her life (plain people are nutty, but if you are very rich, you are eccentric) would suggest that the estate plan may be vulnerable.
Presumably the caretakers could live in the mansion as long as Conchita survives. How do we know Conchita is alive, and we are not seeing a clone or a double? Taxidermist, anyone? How about a DNA test?
Keep tuned. I'll keep you posted.
