Estate Planning and Probate
Probate is the legal process of resolving all claims and distributing a deceased person’s property, or estate, according to a valid will. A will has to be “probated” by a court, which means the court has to confirm the validity of a deceased person’s will so that interested parties can rely on its authenticity.
Estate planning is the process of accumulating and distributing a person’s estate in a way that maximizes what is transferred to the estate owner’s intended beneficiaries while minimizing taxes and probate court involvement.
Understanding Wills, Trusts, and Other Probate and Estate Planning Tools
We have years of experience drafting wills and trusts for individuals and business owners. We can advise you on a range of probate and estate planning tools, including durable powers of attorney, medical care powers of attorney, elder law planning, establishing guardianships, conservatorships, living wills, contested wills and probate administration.
This is a sampling of the probate and estate planning law services we provide to individuals:
- Conservatorships
- Durable Powers of Attorney
- Elder Law Planning
- Estate Planning for Digital Assets
- Guardianships
- Living Wills
- Medical Care Powers of Attorney
- Probate Administration
- Trust Disputes
- Trusts
- Will Contests
- Wills
Estate Planning and Probate Articles
Undue Influence — Trusts and Wills
Morse v. Volz, 808 S. W. 2d 424, is a case involving Marvin Morse, who died in 1986. His first wife, with whom he had one child, predeceased him in 1978. He remarried in 1984 to a woman who had a child by her first marriage. The second wife died in 1987. Before his...
Legal Cards Stacked Against Trustee Involved in Self-Dealing: Jury Awards Nearly $1 Million in Damages
The Missouri Court of Appeals has upheld a jury verdict of $850,000 against a former co-trustee after a trust which he co-managed was depleted of over a million dollars without such monies going to the beneficiaries. The appeals court found sufficient evidence that...
Decedent’s Disinherited Children Fail to Prove Lack of Mental Capacity or Undue Influence Involving Mom’s Trust
Missouri appeals court ruled that while an inequitable distribution of assets among the decedent’s children illustrates an unfortunate breakdown in the relationships between members of her family, the final bequest would not be disturbed because the trial judge...
Dude, Where’s My Body?
A recent decision by the Missouri Court of Appeals now requires rethinking with respect to the structure and effectiveness of Health Care Durable Powers of Attorney that contain provisions regarding "right of sepulcher." The right of sepulcher refers to "the right to...
