D
D Gonzalez
Guest
I live in New Jersey,
Here is my dilemma:
My family and I moved to NJ 4 years ago to take care of an elderly relative (cousin) who had no next of kin (husband, children, parents, sisters or brothers.) My mother and I took care of her and were made joint power of attorney by her. She suffered numerous health problems including depression and early signs of Alzheimers. We took care of her for 3 years and managed her health problems, took care of her home and kept her in touch with the family, even though she did not want to. 2 months before her death she decided to change her will and only include my mother, another cousin and myself in it, because she thought no one else was worthy of her assets, and we had sacrificed so much for her.
After her death two months later, other family members who were her cousins and who were included in her previous will were upset to learn that she had changed her will and decided to file for invalidation of her will and are suing her estate claiming that we had undue influence over our cousin and this forced her to change her will. We have produced affidavits from doctors, bank officals, etc. testifying to the fact hat she was well taken care of.
One of the cousins actually told my lawyer: "Just give us what we want and we won't cause any problems", sounds like blackmale. We have been accused by these cousins of horrible things and are awaiting a hearing to see if the judge will thow the case out of court. They have delayed this hearing 3 times and have not been able to produce any evidence of undue influence. This has turned into a mud slinging fight by these cousins who did not share a close relationship with our relative and are only interested in her substantial estate.
I guess my question is, What are the chances of a case like this being overturned, and what kind of evidence would the prosecution have to present to the court to prove undue influence?
Here is my dilemma:
My family and I moved to NJ 4 years ago to take care of an elderly relative (cousin) who had no next of kin (husband, children, parents, sisters or brothers.) My mother and I took care of her and were made joint power of attorney by her. She suffered numerous health problems including depression and early signs of Alzheimers. We took care of her for 3 years and managed her health problems, took care of her home and kept her in touch with the family, even though she did not want to. 2 months before her death she decided to change her will and only include my mother, another cousin and myself in it, because she thought no one else was worthy of her assets, and we had sacrificed so much for her.
After her death two months later, other family members who were her cousins and who were included in her previous will were upset to learn that she had changed her will and decided to file for invalidation of her will and are suing her estate claiming that we had undue influence over our cousin and this forced her to change her will. We have produced affidavits from doctors, bank officals, etc. testifying to the fact hat she was well taken care of.
One of the cousins actually told my lawyer: "Just give us what we want and we won't cause any problems", sounds like blackmale. We have been accused by these cousins of horrible things and are awaiting a hearing to see if the judge will thow the case out of court. They have delayed this hearing 3 times and have not been able to produce any evidence of undue influence. This has turned into a mud slinging fight by these cousins who did not share a close relationship with our relative and are only interested in her substantial estate.
I guess my question is, What are the chances of a case like this being overturned, and what kind of evidence would the prosecution have to present to the court to prove undue influence?