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Tag: Wills and Trusts Attorney CHevy Chase MD

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Harper Lee’s Will Unveiled

Harper Lee valued her privacy while she was alive. Her will suggests that she also values it in death. MP900398819[1]

After writing To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee mostly kept out of the public eye. She did not release another book for decades and made very few appearances.

She died in 2016. Journalists and literary historians have been attempting to piece together details of the author's life, but they have met with little success. She was a private person and those who knew her have not been willing to talk very much.

Lee’s will has been unsealed but it does not reveal very much either, as Al.com reports in "Harper Lee's will is unsealed but questions about the legend of American literature remain."

Lee's will directs that all of her assets, including literary property, be put into a previously created trust. Details about the trust are not publicly known. There does not appear to be a way to make them public. The trust's beneficiaries and trustee are not known.

What Lee created is known as a pour-over will. It is a simple way to have assets transferred to a trust, after someone passes away. Since trusts do not have to go through probate and are private, this is a great method to use for people who do not want the details of their estates known to the public, as Lee apparently did not.

Reference: Al.com (Feb. 27, 2018) "Harper Lee's will is unsealed but questions about the legend of American literature remain."

Suggested Key Words: Wills, Trusts

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Will Challenges in Canada

Bigstock-Family-Couple-Relationships-Cr-5604405[1]Contests over wills are increasing in Canada just as in the U.S. Despite there being several ways to successfully contest a will, it is not an easy thing to do.

Part of the population in the U.S. has seen continually rising wealth in the last few decades, while other parts of the population have not. In the process, one trend has emerged and that is that there are more wealthy estates that people deem worthy of fighting over.  As a result, more wills are being contested in court by those who do not believe they have been left the inheritances they deserve.

The U.S. is not alone in this trend. The same thing has been happening in Canada, as The Globe and Mail reports in "Left out of the will? Here are your options."

The options for challenging a will in Canada are very similar to those in the U.S. There needs to be a good reason why the court should disregard the will and distribute the estate differently.

A common reason is by citing undue influence. That is the allegation that someone has inappropriately influenced another who has diminished capacity of some sort to create a will for the benefit of the influencer. It is not an easy case to prove, but it is possible to do so.

In the U.S. and in Canada, not just anyone can challenge a will. Only people who have a financial interest of some sort in the estate can make the challenge.

If you want to challenge a will, the first thing you need to do is visit an estate attorney. The attorney can evaluate your claim and let you know whether it is a good idea to proceed with a challenge.

Reference: The Globe and Mail (Feb. 26, 2018) "Left out of the will? Here are your options."