The second wife of an art dealer and collector was the executrix of his estate, and, to the exclusion of his son by his first wife, she claimed all of his estate as her own, including a number of very valuable paintings.  The son hired the Firm to pursue his claim against the Estate, and, at a Probate Court trial, the Firm proved that the widow had unduly influenced her husband to change his Will during his last illness to disinherit the son.  The Court set aside the second Will, removed the widow as executrix, and the son received his full inheritance under his father’s original Will.

Soon after the death of the president of a family-owned business, a dispute arose between the estate and the family shareholders as to who had legal authority to control the business.  The surviving shareholders, who held a slight majority of the stock, also alleged that the deceased had looted the company, and they sued his estate.  The Firm was retained by the Executor to represent the estate, and negotiated a favorable buy-out of the estate’s holdings without extensive discovery or expensive litigation.

A wealthy elderly North Carolina landowner’s wife died, leaving him a life estate in her assets with the remainder interest to their grown children.  When it appeared that he was developing Alzheimer’s, and was keeping company with a much younger woman to the exclusion of his children, and spending extravagantly, the children retained the Firm to protect their future inheritance of their parent’s estate.  The Firm negotiated a new trust agreement for the family to achieve their goals.

The female friend of a wealthy Atlanta batchelor had been his primary caregiver during the several months of his final illness.  He had orally given her most of his very extensive assets, and had quitclaimed to her the title to his mansion, before his death.  Unfortunately, he never changed his Will in which he had left his entire estate in a charitable trust to be administered by a major bank.  When the bank attempted to take control of the Estate’s assets pursuant to the Will, the Firm sued to enforce the oral gifts and succeeded in obtaining the estate for the Client.