Undue influence is a form of manipulation

One common challenge to estate plans, which can often lead to extensive conflict or litigation between beneficiaries, is undue influence. This is essentially a claim that someone manipulated the person who was writing the estate plan so that they would make changes to that plan that were in a specific beneficiary’s favor.

A red flag for undue influence is when there are last-minute changes. For instance, perhaps there are two beneficiaries who are siblings, and the original estate plan says the money will be split 50-50 between both of them. But in the final draft, written just days before the elderly person passed away, the estate plan was altered so that 90% of the money would go to one beneficiary. Did they manipulate the elderly individual to change their plan?

A position of power

Often, this happens when one person is in a position of power over that elderly individual. For instance, they could be a caretaker. Maybe they live near their elderly parent and they spend their time driving them to doctor’s appointments, running errands and helping them with tasks around the house, like cleaning up or cooking.

After all, if one sibling simply asks their parent to change the estate plan, that is not undue influence. But if they use their position of power, perhaps threatening to withhold care and assistance unless the changes are made, then they are putting the elderly individual under duress. The estate plan may no longer reflect their true wishes.

This is just one potential issue that can come up with estate planning. Those who are going through litigation must know about all their legal options.