SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE OF PROBATE CLAIMS IN WRONGFUL DEATH DISTRIBUTION CASE

Our probate attorneys represented a surviving spouse in Jackson County Probate Court in a case to determine who would receive the proceeds of a wrongful death settlement. The decedent's estranged adult children, both of whom had not contacted their father in decades, appeared in the case and filed a claim for money damages. After their attorney refused to voluntarily dismiss the frivolous claims, we took the case to an evidentiary hearing (mini-trial) and the probate judge ruled in our favor, allowing our client to receive the bulk of the wrongful death claim of her late husband. The other claimants did not appeal.