Estate, Trust & Fiduciary Litigation

Even with careful planning, disputes can arise over wills, trusts, and the management of estate and trust assets. Allegations of undue influence, lack of capacity, mismanagement, or self-dealing can divide families and place significant assets at risk. In these situations, clients need litigators who understand both fiduciary law and the underlying business and family dynamics.

For over 40 years, DiTommaso Lubin, P.C. has prosecuted and defended complex lawsuits involving estates, trusts, fiduciaries, and closely held business interests. Our experience in these matters also informs the estate planning work of our High Net Worth Estate Planning & Fiduciary Litigation Practice Group, allowing us to draft plans with an eye toward avoiding the most common sources of litigation.

What Kinds of Cases We Handle

We represent beneficiaries, executors, administrators, trustees, co-trustees, agents under powers of attorney, and other interested parties in matters such as:

• Will Contests. Challenging or defending the validity of wills and codicils based on claims of lack of testamentary capacity, undue influence, fraud, or improper execution.
• Trust Contests. Litigating the validity of trusts and trust amendments, including allegations that changes were procured through pressure, manipulation, or misrepresentation.
• Breach of Fiduciary Duty. Bringing and defending claims against executors, trustees, and other fiduciaries for mismanagement, self-dealing, conflicts of interest, failure to diversify investments, failure to follow governing documents, or failure to provide required information to beneficiaries.
• Contested Accountings and Surcharge Actions. Pursuing or defending accountings, challenges to specific transactions, and claims for monetary surcharges against fiduciaries.
• Disputes Involving Business Interests. Handling estate and trust disputes that center on ownership and control of closely held businesses, including disagreements over valuation, distributions, and the roles of family members inside and outside the business.
• Elder-Financial-Abuse and Power-of-Attorney Claims. Litigating cases involving alleged misuse of powers of attorney, wrongful transfers, or exploitation of vulnerable adults.

Our Approach to Estate and Trust Litigation

Estate and trust disputes often involve both legal complexity and intense family emotions. We:

• Conduct thorough factual investigations, including review of financial records, correspondence, medical information (where appropriate), and prior estate-planning documents.
• Work with experts, including medical professionals, forensic accountants, and handwriting or capacity experts, as needed to build or challenge the evidentiary record.
• Evaluate settlement options alongside trial strategies, recognizing that in many cases, preserving family relationships or avoiding extended public conflict is an important goal.
• Coordinate estate and trust litigation with related business or real-estate disputes when necessary, drawing on our broader commercial-litigation practice.

How Litigation Experience Strengthens Our Planning

Because our litigators regularly see how estate plans are attacked, our planners draft wills, trusts, and related documents with those lessons in mind. We focus on:

• Clear expression of intent and careful documentation of circumstances surrounding major planning decisions.
• Fiduciary structures that balance control with accountability and avoid unnecessary conflicts of interest.
• Anticipation of foreseeable challenges—such as disputes among siblings in family businesses or tensions between second spouses and children from prior relationships.

Talk With Our Estate, Trust & Fiduciary Litigation Team

If you are involved in, or anticipate, a dispute over an estate, trust, or fiduciary relationship—or if you want to structure your estate plan to reduce the risk of such disputes—our attorneys can help.

Contact attorney Peter S. Lubin or attorney James V. DiTommaso for a free consultation.

Call 630-333-0333 or reach us through our online contact form.

This page is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Contacting us does not create an attorney–client relationship. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.