Rubin on Probate Litigation

Smith v. Smith , 232 So.3d 509 (Fla. 1st DCA 2017) This decision involves the question of whether a prenuptial agreement precluded the surviving spouse from seeking the removal of the co-personal representatives of the decedent spouse's estate.  The prenuptial agreement in question provided that the surviving spouse would "refrain from any action or proceeding to void or nullify to any extent the terms of any last will and testament or trust or testamentary substitute."   The co-personal representatives argued that the above provision prevented the surviving spouse from seeking their removal. The spouse argued that the provision did not affect her rights she later acquired through subsequently executed estate planning documents, and that the waiver provisions did not extend to the interest she acquired in her husband's estate when she was named an income beneficiary of the marital trust created under the terms of his last will executed after the marital agree...

Boren v. Rogers , 243 So.3d 448 (Fla. 5th DCA 2018) Writs of certiori are rarely available in discovery disputes, because in most cases, the harm caused by an improper ruling on discovery can be corrected on appeal.  Here, however, the trial court denied the plaintiff the ability to conduct discovery about a decedent's prior estate planning documents.  Her entire argument was based on the idea that she was a beneficiary of these prior estate planning documents, and therefore she had standing to contest certain newer documents that she believed were the product of undue influence. Because the trial court simply granted the defendant's motion for protective order, without making a finding of good cause that the discovery not be had, the Court granted the petition for writ of certiori and quashed the protective order. It noted that the trial court's order was insufficient because the document request was seeking items that could be admissible at trial and were reasonably ...