This outline is limited to facts relevant to my claims. It shall focus mainly on my Grandpa, my Grandma- Kathleen, Paul- my uncle, my mother, and me.
Expectancy of Inheritance
I will begin by justifying an expectancy of inheritance from the relationship my mother and I shared with my Grandparents. I was the grandchild with the closest relationship with Grandpa and Kathleen (“my grandparents”). In 2007, my grandparents informed me of a trust that will be left in Kathleen’s will and that they would contribute to it every year. The trust (which would be for my college years) would be over one hundred grand and grow in value each year. They also told me that they would be giving me some stocks that I can use to buy a car that would be outside the college money
In 2011, Kathleen created a new will. Grandpa also made his will and trust at that time. Consequently, my grandparents met my mum and me. They informed us that my mum and her siblings would inherit equally from both estates. Further, Grandpa assigned assets to Kathleen. Grandpa’s estate would be a divided inheritance, some when he died, the rest when Kathleen died or vice versa depending on which of them passed away first. Notably, Kathleen’s estate included a $20K gift for me from Grandpa. They also informed us that Kathryn’s (my mother’s sister) inheritance requests were denied. Kathryn had, inter alia, requested for ownership of a condo.
Fast forward in 2015, Kathleen placed her real estate holdings into a Trust, listing my Mom & her siblings as her heirs with equal inheritance. Consequently, Kathleen, acting as the Executor of Grandpa’s Will, began sending emails to my Mom and her siblings.
It is worth noting that my Grandpa trusted Kathleen so much that he relied on her judgment, making her the executor of his will. As stated above, my Grandpa intended that my Mom and I be included in the will.
Interference
In the paragraphs below, I have provided a background to the interference with Kathleen’s will.
My Uncle Paul is the primary individual responsible for the interference. He is judgmental, intolerant, jealous, aggressive, physically violent, psychologically abusive, and cunningly predatory. At first, Paul did not maintain a close relationship with my Grandparents. However, he showed up in their last days and made attempts to create a relationship. He already had his eye on the inheritance. My Grandpa confided in this regard to Carol Laverty (my late Grandpa’s girlfriend) that he doubted the sincerity of Paul’s peacemaking.
The relationship between Paul and my mum has been strained. At one time, my Grandparents advised my Mom to avoid and ignore Paul because of his hostile character. The hostility was evident when my Grandpa died in 2011. He sent hateful Emails to my Mom, claiming she was the one who killed Grandpa. Further, he stalked my Mom on social media. These actions left Mom worried. As a result of Paul’s influence, my Mom and I were not included in any family planning dialogue or emails for my Grandpa’s obituary and memorial service. In the memorial service, Paul played a leading role in the planning and conduct of Grandpa’s memorial service, projecting himself and his family as being active in Grandpa’s life. He did all that in a guise to obtain control over the estate.
Following Grandpa’s death, Paul traveled to Boston with his wife and adult children for the funeral and spent time with Kathleen, claiming that he would be her strength and support. This is the first and only time Paul and his family all visited Boston. During the visit, Paul and his family sorted through Grandpa’s personal belongings and took what they liked. It is worth noting that they assumed all control and isolated Kathleen in the process. Paul even went ahead to intimidate, insult, and demean Barry, my uncle, for offering to help Kathleen distribute Grandpa’s belongings.
In a bid to manipulate Kathleen, Paul joined her online activist groups, met all of her friends, and became her prayer partner. Consequently, he began giving her advice and abusing her trust in handling some executor matters on her behalf. At this time, Paul led the family to believe my Mom was disinherited and only received one life insurance.
Paul also used Charles Tevnan- his lawyer, to effect his influence. In 2015, My Mom raised concerns about lengthy discussions that Paul held with this lawyer. At the time of execution of Grandpa’s will, my Mom was excluded in the distribution of the estate by this attorney. Everyone got copies of the settlement but my Mom. It was not until two years later did she receive anything from Tevnan. (Clearly, they made sure she was time-barred). The estate also only listed the items for my Mom on the inventory and did not list anything else. My Mom also made an inquiry noting a gold necklace that was not on the inventory. Tevnan wrote his apology and told her she would be compensated and never followed up. Although the lawyer and my mother were communicating, the lawyer did not talk about Kathleen’s will.
Paul also directed hatred to me. Notably, within 15 minutes of Grandpa’s death, Paul assumed some patriarchal/controlling family role. He acted authoritatively to inflict emotional and psychological abuse upon me by yelling that I was not part of the family. He used my past health experiences to divide the family and heaping blame on my Mom.
Interference also came from Kathryn. In 2015, she began to fight with Kathleen to get Kathleen to change her Will and 2015 Trust. Per Kathleen, Kathryn issued a long list of wants- including Kathleen’s condo, arguing that she was entitled to them because of her life situations/challenges. She argued that my Mom should inherit nothing. The fight escalated and continued into 2016, Kathryn pressuring Kathleen and taking advantage of Kathleen’s old age and health. Ultimately my Mom was taken off from the inheritance.
Causation
As a result of the interference, Kathleen amended her will and trust in 2016 with new terms. These terms benefited Katheryn and Paul disproportionately and disinherited my Mom and me.
I believe fraud and undue influence were used to induce Kathleen by false data, and had she not been fraudulently imposed upon and manipulated and pressured into the will, the original version would stand. I believe Paul intended to induce both Grandpa and Kathleen to add him to their wills, and with each will, his share grew. The amended wills and trusts have very different terms than its original version.
They pressured Kathleen into making changes and manipulated her when she wasn’t mentally equipped and sought to benefit from her impaired and misinformed judgment. She relied on the information that Paul and Katheryn deceitfully fed her.
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