California Supreme Court Dramatically Changes the Law Regarding Will Interpretation

LOS ANGELES, March 17, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Robin Meadow, Robert Olson, and Jeffrey Raskin of the highly respected appellate law firm Greines, Martin, Stein & Richland LLP successfully represented two charities before the California Supreme Court in the case of Estate of Duke (2015), convincing the Court to chart a new course in the interpretation of wills. It held that courts have a power that they did not have before in California:  to change a will to correct a mistake.  Disapproving its own precedent and aligning itself with a recent trend in the law, the Court departed from a doctrine that courts have followed since the first Act of Wills in 1540. 

Robin Meadow, lead counsel, said:  "We were grateful to have the opportunity to persuade the Supreme Court that it should help ensure the fulfillment of people's last wishes as they actually intended.  This change in the law is particularly important for those most likely to make the kind of mistakes that courts now have the power to fix—those who write their own wills because they can't afford lawyers."

Because of the impact of this case on estate planning and probate litigation, GMSR will receive one of the highly-coveted and prestigious California Lawyer Attorney of the Year awards from California Lawyer Magazine.

About GMSR:  Greines, Martin, Stein and Richland LLP devotes its practice exclusively to appellate law.  It is one of the nation's leading appellate law firms, with more than three decades of experience handling cases in the United States Supreme Court, the Federal Courts of Appeal, every appellate court in California, and state appellate courts across the country. 

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SOURCE Greines, Martin, Stein and Richland LLP

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