More Mobile Clients

Fewer Long-term Relationships with Clients

Probate lawyers practicing in the Wash. , D.C. metropolitan area are challenged by clients constantly entering and leaving the area to attend school, to take military assignments, to work for the government, etc. As a result of increased mobility in this area especially, a lawyer may be asked to draft a Will for a client whom the lawyer has never seen; "Mom just moved to this area and wants to update her Will."  Precautions to protect the Will of a new elderly client from attack include asking (a) the client about family members to ensure that the elder knows "the natural objects of their bounty," and (b) what the elder owns to ensure that they know generally what they have. The lawyer may routinely require a new client's previous Wills in order to obtain rational explanations for drastic changes in bequests or beneficiaries. The lawyer may wish to preserve previous Wills in case a contestant successfully invalidates the last Will because of defects in execution, another common ground for Will contests. As a precaution against this type of attack, Wills should include an attestation clause that brings with it a presumption of due execution (see Slack v. Truitt, 791 A.2d 129 (Md. 2002) presumption left intact where sole surviving witness' memory was not). The lawyer should also have and habitually follow formal execution procedures -- always ask, inter alia, "Is this your Will? Have you read it?" If a newer Will is rejected and the previous Will is intact, the doctrine of dependent relative revocation may apply to unrevoke the previous Will if the newer Will was executed but later found to have defects in execution (Linkins v. Protestant. Epis. Cathed?l Fdn., 87 U.S. App. D.C. 351 (1950); In re: Est. of Burleson, 738 A.2d 1199, n. 13 (D.C. 1999)).

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