The concept of what constitutes a “confidential relationship” (one of the elements creating a presumption of undue influence) was examined by the New Jersey Appellate Division in Matter of the Estate of Jewell B. Sykes, N.J. App. Div. No. A-1109-09T2 (Aug. 19, 2010).
In Sykes, the decedent’s daughter/co-executor (“Evelyn”) challenged the validity of two leases her mother had entered into with a company that was owned by the decedent’s son/co-executor (“Gerald”). Notably, Gerald lived with the mother from 1976 until she entered a nursing home in 1992; later, during the course of the mother’s Medicaid application, the Board of Social Services had determined that Gerald qualified as a “caregiver child” for at least two years prior to her institutionalization. Slip op. at 7. The leases were executed in 1981 and 1986. Slip op. at 3. Although Gerald had been represented by an attorney and the mother had not, Gerald’s attorney retained another lawyer in 1988 to meet with the mother and confirm that she had entered into the leases of her own free will. Slip op. at 5.
Following trial, the lower court rejected Evelyn’s claims that the decedent-mother lacked capacity to enter into the leases, and that the leases were the product of undue influence. Slip op. at 11-12.
After rejecting Evelyn’s challenge regarding the decedent’s capacity to enter into the leases, the appellate court considered Evelyn’s claim of undue influence. Slip op. at 12. In particular, Evelyn argued that there was adequate proof of a “confidential relationship” between the decedent and Gerald “by virtue of the ‘natural relationship between mother and son living together, with [the] son caring for [the] mother and managing her financial affairs.’” Slip op. at 12. The appellate court refused to accept such an expansive view of the “confidential relationship” element of the claim:
Although parent-child relationships are “among the most natural of confidential relationships … the mere existence of family ties does not create … a confidential relationship… The record is devoid of evidence that Gerald occupied a position of dominance over [the mother] and, indeed, Evelyn relies upon the familial relationship rather than citing any evidence on appeal to support that conclusion.
Accordingly, the Appellate Division determined that Evelyn failed to meet her burden of establishing the existence of a confidential relationship, and affirmed the trial court’s decision in favor of Gerald.
A copy of the decision can be found here – Matter of the Estate of Jewell B. Sykes.
Categories
- Affordable Care Act
- Alzheimer's Disease
- Arbitration
- Attorney Ethics
- Attorneys Fees
- Beneficiary Designations
- Blog Roundup and Highlights
- Blogs and Blogging
- Care Facilities
- Caregivers
- Cemetery
- Collaborative Family Law
- Conservatorships
- Consumer Fraud
- Contempt
- Contracts
- Defamation
- Developmental Disabilities
- Discovery
- Discrimination Laws
- Doctrine of Probable Intent
- Domestic Violence
- Elder Abuse
- Elder Law
- Elective Share
- End-of-Life Decisions
- Estate Administration
- Estate Litigation
- Estate Planning
- Events
- Family Law
- Fiduciary
- Financial Exploitation of the Elderly
- Funeral
- Future of the Legal Profession
- Geriatric Care Managers
- Governmental or Public Benefit Programs
- Guardianship
- Health Issues
- Housing for the Elderly and Disabled
- In Remembrance
- Insolvent Estates
- Institutional Liens
- Insurance
- Interesting New Cases
- Intestacy
- Law Firm News
- Law Firm Videos
- Law Practice Management / Development
- Lawyers and Lawyering
- Legal Capacity or Competancy
- Legal Malpractice
- Legal Rights of the Disabled
- Liens
- Litigation
- Mediation
- Medicaid Appeals
- Medicaid Applications
- Medicaid Planning
- Annuities
- Care Contracts
- Divorce
- Estate Recovery
- Family Part Non-Dissolution Support Orders
- Gifts
- Life Estates
- Loan repayments
- MMMNA
- Promissory Notes
- Qualified Income Trusts
- Spousal Refusal
- Transfers For Reasons Other Than To Qualify For Medicaid
- Transfers to "Caregiver" Child(ren)
- Transfers to Disabled Adult Children
- Trusts
- Undue Hardship Provision
- Multiple-Party Deposit Account Act
- New Cases
- New Laws
- News Briefs
- Newsletters
- Non-Probate Assets
- Nursing Facility Litigation
- Personal Achievements and Awards
- Personal Injury Lawsuits
- Probate
- Punitive Damages
- Reconsideration
- Retirement Benefits
- Reverse Mortgages
- Section 8 Housing
- Settlement of Litigation
- Social Media
- Special Education
- Special Needs Planning
- Surrogate Decision-Making
- Taxation
- Technology
- Texting
- Top Ten
- Trials
- Trustees
- Uncategorized
- Veterans Benefits
- Web Sites and the Internet
- Webinar
- Writing Intended To Be A Will
Vanarelli & Li, LLC on Social Media