Plan To Be 100

In this newly released unpublished opinion, the Michigan Court of Appeals reverses the trial judge for dismissing an undue influence case without giving the contesting party notice of its intentions.

Facts

Grandkids are expressly cut out of 2018 trust, and were likewise cut out of 2015 will (the estate planning document immediately predating the 2018 Trust).

Trial judge has hearings on whether the grandkids have a right to see the Trust, and after deciding that they do, schedules a status conference.  But the day before the status conference, the trial judge sua sponte issues a written order dismissing the case altogether.

The COA finds that the trial judge was too quick on the draw and remands the case “for further proceedings.”

To read In Re Franz Weiser Revocable Trust, click here.

Funny Thing Is

We (as in Chalgian and Tripp) were hired onto this case to represent the Trustees at the trial level about three days before the case was dismissed.  Someone more egotistical than me might have reasoned that the mere filing of our appearance was enough to win the case.

But, as it turned out, we simply went from trial counsel to counsel for the appellee.  BIG thanks to CT’s own Drummond Black for doing a yeoman’s job of drafting an appellee’s brief that made the best of the record as it existed.  But sometimes the best simply isn’t enough, and so now we go back to being trial counsel, only to pick up where we left off.

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