Estate Litigation: Family Feud Meets Gladiator

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Sept. 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Estate litigation can be brutal: think Family Feud meets Gladiator. Families with dysfunctional histories may easily fall into estate fights that simmer for too long. Those with more benign backgrounds will usually – but not always – avoid the trauma of estate disputes.

Estate battles, whether long-simmering or newly-formed, tend to repeat common themes – among them:

• A Few Bad Apples. Family members with a history of troublemaking can be reliably disruptive in an estate dispute.  A tendency toward family infighting can energized by a wealthy relative's death.
• Amnesia. Alzheimer's and dementia bring a family unexpected challenges. The ill person is particularly susceptible to isolation through a wrongdoer's undue influence. Estate lawsuits spawned by undue influence on a parent can be particularly bitter. Long-held estate plans overturned by the greedy manipulation of a wrongdoer aggravate grief and loss with the shock of financial elder abuse.
• Gold-Diggers. It is more than unsettling when children learn that an unknown woman with dubious motives has befriended their widowed father. This phenomenon is, of course, not peculiar to widowers. Male gold-diggers of recently widowed women are equal-opportunity offenders.
• Groundhog Day.  There are serial repeaters to estate misdeeds. Families can easily identify the cousin who shows up like clockwork on a sick relative's doorstep. Visits to the cousin's friendly attorney for a whole new estate plan are not uncommon. Family heirlooms may commonly disappear, only later discovered to have been taken by the Johnny-come-lately family member.

The above cases are unfortunately all too common. And finding a solution to counter wrongdoing isn't always quick and easy. Still, there are well-established legal processes for protection and recovery, should aggrieved family members choose to enforce their rights.

About Hackard Law, a Professional Law Corporation: Michael A. Hackard is the principal attorney of Hackard Law, a Sacramento-area law firm suing wrongdoers in wrongful death, catastrophic injury and financial elder abuse litigation. For information, please visit:

http://www.avvo.com/attorneys/95655-ca-michael-hackard-226264.html

CONTACT

Michael A. Hackard
Hackard Law
10630 Mather Blvd.
Mather, Sacramento County, CA 95655
Phone: 916-313-3031

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SOURCE Hackard Law