When you have a parent who has worked in Trusts and Estates for over forty-five years, you learn a thing or two—not only as a spectator, but as a hands-on paralegal working long hours on weekdays and weekends. But of all the cases we’ve seen, there’s always one that remains at the forefront of my mind, not because it was some anomaly, but because the client was very clever in how she approached her marriage and, ultimately, her spouse’s assets.
When a case reaches the discovery stage, it can become almost impossible to continue trusting that your client is being honest, all while having to keep their best interests in mind—after all, they’re the ones paying you. The sad truth is, in most cases among the wealthy, especially where there’s a question of undue influence involved, it’s less about winning for the other party and more about depleting the funds the spouse believes they’ve successfully inherited.
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When this case first came around, it was supposed to be as simple as this: the daughter wanted her father’s original wishes under his first will to be probated and recognized by the court. She also wanted the wife removed as fiduciary and for the party who brought the lawsuit—herself—to have her legal fees paid by the wife. The wife meets the man, and there is a ten-year age gap. He drafts a will with a family attorney, leaving all three of his children a portion of his $5 million estate, with one of them named as the fiduciary. Fast forward, his health begins to decline—mentally and physically—and the new wife slowly becomes the caretaker. She moves into his home and then decides that this millionaire should be on Medicaid and receive assistance from the government. She tells her now very sick husband that she’s found a Medicaid lawyer online who can draft a new will for him, in which he transfers his assets into her name so she can then apply for Medicaid. Surely, you can guess by now why this case still haunts me to this day.
What is undue influence in the context of will and trust drafting? Undue influence is excessive persuasion that overcomes a person’s free will and causes them to act or decide in a way they otherwise would not have. It’s not simply advice, persuasion, or even strong encouragement. It must rise to the level of overpowering independent judgment. When trying to prove undue influence, three elements must be present: motive, opportunity, and actual facts. Here, we see that the wife had motive. According to the decedent’s children, he always intended to leave everything to them equally, which we know because of the original will that was drafted and later drastically changed in the year he died.
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In terms of opportunity, there was a decline in the decedent’s health over a period of nine years, which gave the wife ample time to observe his deterioration before ultimately deciding to “persuade” him to seek Medicaid assistance and, in doing so, change everything in her favor. It was also mentioned that the husband and his children had become estranged because they were not fond of this new, younger wife moving into their childhood home and claiming to be his caretaker.
Then there are the facts: this woman is legally his wife, and he chose to marry her, which in New York means she is eligible for a spousal right of election. She would be entitled to the greater of $50,000 or one-third of the estate, regardless of what the will provides. So now that we know what is needed to prove undue influence, the next question is: how do you defend against it? Undue influence is one of the harder claims to prove in trust and estate law, and because of this, it can be quite costly. In this case alone, before going to trial, the wife’s legal bills were somewhere near $96,000.
This led many to believe that the goal was not simply to have the wife removed as fiduciary and the original will honored, but also to deplete her of the liquid cash she had inherited through a trust account with around $1.5 million in it. She was not working and had become the “caretaker” for her mother a year after her husband died. She moved her mother into the marital home and, for her mother’s estate, she is also named the fiduciary and trust beneficiary.
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Working at the firm, our job was simple: strengthen credibility and improve the optics. We knew going in that the court was going to focus on the drastic changes made to the new will in the same year the decedent died, which meant locking down the drafting attorney’s testimony. She needed to be able to plainly and truthfully state that she met with the decedent alone, absent his wife, and that he understood the prior dispositions made in his earlier will. He needed to be able to name his children and articulate why the will needed to be changed so drastically.
As for the spouse, who also happened to be our client, we needed to zoom in on her involvement in all of this and not ignore it, despite how bad it looked. Instead, we leaned into it, framing it as necessary and compliant with elder law strategies as outlined by Medicaid. There had to be structure, where the husband’s needs and housing stability were central, not just asset positioning.
The law is not in favor of feelings; it is about the facts. What happened, why it happened, motive, case law, and the final decision rendered. You do not need a crystal ball to know how a case is going to go. You need vLex and a large cup of coffee. Read, cite, learn, and hope that you are skilled enough as an attorney to influence an outcome, even in a case where a prior decision may not have been in your favor. So the question is: can someone be written out of a will when there is proof of undue influence? The answer is far more layered than that. The court can review any and all documents listing that person as fiduciary and potentially revoke their inheritance, require them to pay the other party’s legal fees, and redistribute the assets. It can also open the door to civil litigation.
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In trusts and estates law, getting clients is already difficult. It is a niche field with a specific type of client, and because of that, many attorneys charge substantial fees or take on cases where a successful outcome is far from guaranteed. Clients are not always honest either. Some will withhold key information, which only costs them more money in the long run. This case was the perfect example of that. Much of what was needed to properly build the case and determine whether it would be a win or a loss was only shared later on.
Whether it is a parent or a spouse, the people involved in the drafting of a will must be impartial and have no interest in the estate. Estate planning should be done while the individual is of sound mind, and if there is any question about capacity, they should be evaluated by a doctor before proceeding. Timing plays a significant role in how a case is perceived. Even if the intentions are pure, poor timing can raise the question: was undue influence involved?
If you or your spouse are considering drafting a will, work with a qualified trust and estates attorney to ensure everything is done properly and beyond reproach.
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Jakob Crane is a finance writer covering capital strategy, generational wealth, and the decisions that shape long-term financial positioning. His work explores the intersection of money and influence, offering readers a measured, insightful perspective on modern financial life.
