Hello,
I welcome any opinions on this:
My father remarried in 2004 and has four children from a previous marriage. He set down his assets and testamentary wishes in letters and e-mails to an attorney in preparation for a prenuptial agreement at that time, but it was *apparently* never signed before the wedding. Basically he has around 2 million and wanted it to go to his children - we have all of those documents, and the old attorney said that he was told my father was going to go to a new attorney in Florida to finish the prenuptial agreement and estate planning. He was then diagnosed with Alzheimer's a couple of years after the marriage and got progressively worse. We recently found out that a year or two ago the new wife took him to her attorney of many years and had a trust and pour-over will worked up. The beneficiaries of the trust are the children. The problem is that there are hardly any assets that are not in joint name. The trust is unfunded.
Around the time the estate planning was done, the bulk of the assets were transferred to joint name with her, which will bypass probate. We don't know how that was effected, but he probably signed. He would have signed anything put under his nose at that point. He had to be institutionalized around a year ago. The transfers were between the time of the formal diagnosis and the institutionalization - so we know what happened, but proving it is going to be difficult. There has not really been a change in his condition recently to trigger this, but as soon as we found all of this out and asked the wife about it, she ceased all communication (which had been OK up to that point) and filed for guardianship over him.
I am one of the children and we all feel very frustrated by this behavior, especially in the radical change in communication and behavior once the subject was broached. I realize that there is a cause of action of tortious interference with an expected inheritance in Florida. It's obvious to us what went on here, but it may be difficult to put that across legally. Although we are looking, I (maybe unfairly) feel that it is difficult to find a competent attorney for this.
I welcome any opinions on this:
My father remarried in 2004 and has four children from a previous marriage. He set down his assets and testamentary wishes in letters and e-mails to an attorney in preparation for a prenuptial agreement at that time, but it was *apparently* never signed before the wedding. Basically he has around 2 million and wanted it to go to his children - we have all of those documents, and the old attorney said that he was told my father was going to go to a new attorney in Florida to finish the prenuptial agreement and estate planning. He was then diagnosed with Alzheimer's a couple of years after the marriage and got progressively worse. We recently found out that a year or two ago the new wife took him to her attorney of many years and had a trust and pour-over will worked up. The beneficiaries of the trust are the children. The problem is that there are hardly any assets that are not in joint name. The trust is unfunded.
Around the time the estate planning was done, the bulk of the assets were transferred to joint name with her, which will bypass probate. We don't know how that was effected, but he probably signed. He would have signed anything put under his nose at that point. He had to be institutionalized around a year ago. The transfers were between the time of the formal diagnosis and the institutionalization - so we know what happened, but proving it is going to be difficult. There has not really been a change in his condition recently to trigger this, but as soon as we found all of this out and asked the wife about it, she ceased all communication (which had been OK up to that point) and filed for guardianship over him.
I am one of the children and we all feel very frustrated by this behavior, especially in the radical change in communication and behavior once the subject was broached. I realize that there is a cause of action of tortious interference with an expected inheritance in Florida. It's obvious to us what went on here, but it may be difficult to put that across legally. Although we are looking, I (maybe unfairly) feel that it is difficult to find a competent attorney for this.
