Estate and Fiduciary Litigation
Altman & Associates and specifically, Gary Altman, attorney and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional (1988), has significant experience serving as an expert witness for both plaintiffs and defendants in estate planning litigation.
Additionally, Altman & Associates has been successful (more than a dozen times the last few years) in reforming badly drafted irrevocable trusts or estate plans or reforming trusts when the circumstances have changed (such as a beneficiary becoming disabled years after an irrevocable trust has been created). Mr. Altman believes that no one should accept a badly drafted estate plan or trust as a given, especially if circumstances have changed since the documents have been drafted. Instead, in the right circumstances, action can be taken to reverse, modify, reform or decant an irrevocable trust or will in order to correct drafting errors, minimize taxes, protect assets from creditors, allow a disabled individual to remain on government benefits, etc.
Moreover, sometimes there is a dispute over the validity of a will and in some cases, the Executor of an estate (or a Trustee of a trust) may abuse his or her power and authority by hiding assets or acting against the interests of the intended beneficiaries. In some cases, the decedent may have left confusing instructions, multiple wills, or failed to list the proper parties as beneficiaries of insurance policies or pension plans. Mr. Altman and his team can help beneficiaries contest wills and trusts and can assist administrators of estates in circumstances such as lack of testamentary capacity, undue influence, mistake, fraud and duress, insane delusion, failure to execute etc.
In addition, Mr. Altman has worked as a consulting member or expert witness in litigation surrounding breaches of fiduciary duty and or the sales of unsuitable financial products or investment strategies.
Some examples of matters in which we have experience are fiduciary compensation, will contests, estate and gift tax controversies, will and trust interpretation disputes and valuation controversies.
