Our clients include beneficiaries of trusts and/or estates as well as institutional fiduciaries and individuals acting as trustees, personal representatives (formerly executors), attorneys-in-fact (pursuant to a durable power of attorney), and health care proxies.

Our probate litigators have extensive experience trying complex, hotly contested probate matters, representing clients in Probate, Land, and Superior Court, as well as Massachusetts appellate courts. Disputed probate matters often require creative, technical, and practical solutions to resolve emotionally charged and complex legal and financial issues. Our seasoned probate litigators have the experience, temperament, and analytical focus to approach these issues with both reason and skill.

Frequently in probate matters, it is necessary to work closely with other professionals to provide our clients with multidisciplinary services. Our attorneys have significant experience working with tax, medical, and financial professionals.

We also represent persons petitioning the Probate Court to be appointed Guardian or Conservator of a family member. We handle both contested and noncontested matters. We ensure that our clients understand their fiduciary responsibilities and accounting requirements to the Probate Court in connection with their appointment.

We also recognize that mediation or other forms of negotiated resolution are frequently in our client’s best interests, and we are experienced in preparing for and participating in that process.

Our probate litigators frequently lecture at continuing legal education programs for members of the bar. Often, we receive referrals from estate planning or trust attorneys who do not do probate litigation. In addition, we regularly advise estate planners on strategies to avoid potential future probate litigation.

Types of Matters and Issues:

• Will contests
• Claims of undue influence or lack of capacity
• Claims of children from two different marriages
• Disinherited parties
• Claims of mismanagement against trustees
• Interests of remainderman beneficiaries
• Counseling fiduciaries in the duty owed by the fiduciary to various classes of beneficiaries, the methodology of accounting and reporting to the beneficiaries, and the difference between a trustee acting as a lawyer, charging various hourly rates, and acting as a trustee, which warrants and demands lower hourly rates or lower rates
• Both petitioning for and contesting appointments of proposed guardians and conservators for mentally ill persons
• Claims on the estate by persons who represent themselves as long-lost relatives, illegitimate children, or love interests of the decedent
• Joint bank accounts: are they gifts or part of the estate?
• Real estate partition actions
• Obtaining instructions from the Probate Court as to how a fiduciary client should administer a trust or a will when the underlying instrument is ambiguous or there is uncertainty