Common Legal Issues in Inheritance Disputes

The most common legal issues in inheritance disputes involve a challenge to a will, no valid will at all, trust and beneficiary disagreements, the way an estate or trust is run, family fights over shares, and questions about creditors and ownership. Each issue has its own rules and its own clock. Knowing which one applies is the first step.

Trust Counsel, PL is a trusts and estates firm. Its only office is in Coral Gables, Florida. Leslie V. Marenco is the lawyer responsible for this page. The sections below explain each issue in plain language.

What Is an Inheritance Dispute?

An inheritance dispute is a disagreement over who receives property after a death, how that property is divided, or whether the documents directing the division are valid. The fight may involve a will, a trust, or no estate plan at all.

Disputes happen in small estates and large ones alike. The amount at stake does not decide whether a legal issue exists. A family home and a few bank accounts can start a contest just as easily as a larger estate can.

Two roles often sit at the center. The personal representative (often called an executor) runs a probate estate. A trustee manages assets held in a trust. Both owe duties to the people who inherit. When heirs or beneficiaries believe those duties were not carried out, a dispute often follows.

Challenges to the Validity of a Will

A will challenge asks a court not to enforce a will as written. Florida law says a will is void if fraud, duress, mistake, or undue influence procured its execution. A will is void if its execution was procured by fraud, duress, mistake or undue influence. If only a part of the will was procured that way, that part is void, and the remainder can stand if it is not invalid for other reasons (Fla. Stat. § 732.5165).

Undue influence claims usually focus on someone close to the maker who had a real chance to shape the result. Where the presumption of undue influence applies, it guards against abuse of fiduciary or confidential relationships and shifts the burden of proof (Fla. Stat. § 733.107).

Formal signing rules matter too. The maker must sign the will at the end. Under Florida law, every will must be in writing, and the testator must sign it at the end, or another person must subscribe the testator’s name at the end in the testator’s presence and by the testator’s direction; that signing, or the testator’s acknowledgment that he or she has previously signed the will or that another person has subscribed the testator’s name to it, must be in the presence of at least two attesting witnesses, who must sign the will in the presence of the testator and in the presence of each other (Fla. Stat. § 732.502). A missing signature or witness can become its own ground for a challenge.

Deadlines start early. An interested person served with a notice of administration must object to the will’s validity within 3 months after service, or those objections are forever barred; the period can be extended only for estoppel based on the personal representative’s misstatement of the deadline (Fla. Stat. § 733.212). Act quickly if a will looks wrong.

Disputes When There Is No Will

When someone dies without a valid will, Florida’s statutes decide who inherits. Property not effectively disposed of by will passes to heirs as the Florida Probate Code prescribes (Fla. Stat. § 732.101).

Where there is no descendant, the part of the intestate estate not passing to the surviving spouse goes to the decedent’s father and mother equally, or to the survivor of them; if there is none of the foregoing, it goes to the decedent’s brothers and sisters and the descendants of deceased brothers and sisters (Fla. Stat. § 732.103). That order can surprise people.

Parentage can also be disputed. Those include a marriage ceremony between the parents, even a void one, an adjudication of paternity, or the father’s written acknowledgment of paternity.

Disagreements also arise over who should serve as personal representative when no one was named. Families often learn these rules only after a death. Reading them early can save time.

Trust Disputes and Beneficiary Disagreements

Trust disputes usually center on what the trust document says and whether the trustee followed it. Disagreements often involve unclear language, the timing of distributions, and whether assets were actually moved into the trust.

Florida requires trustees to keep qualified beneficiaries reasonably informed. The trustee must also provide an accounting at least annually, subject to the statute’s exceptions (Fla. Stat. § 736.0813).

Challenges to trusts have a short clock too. For a trust that was revocable at the settlor’s death, a contest is barred if not started within the earlier of the chapter 95 period or six months after the trustee sends a copy of the trust instrument and a notice (Fla. Stat. § 736.0604).

Beneficiary designations on bank accounts, insurance, and retirement assets often pass outside a will or trust. A designation that conflicts with the rest of the plan can start a separate fight.

Sibling and Family Conflicts Over Distribution

Sibling conflict is a common trigger for inheritance disputes. It often starts when one sibling is left out, receives less, or believes the division was unfair.

Personal property creates many of these conflicts. Family heirlooms, jewelry, and furniture can carry emotional weight that far exceeds their market value. Real estate is hard to split evenly, and a family home can become a point of deadlock.

A sibling who believes they were omitted from a will may have questions about the document and how the estate is handled. Trust Counsel covers that topic in more detail here: what happens if a sibling is left out of a will.

Sometimes the disagreement is not really about money. Old rivalries, caregiving roles, and unspoken expectations can shape how heirs read the same documents.

Conduct of Personal Representatives and Trustees

Heirs and beneficiaries can challenge how a personal representative or trustee handles assets. Common concerns include self-dealing, unexplained delays, and a failure to account.

A personal representative’s fiduciary duty is the same as a trustee’s duty under an express trust. A personal representative is liable to interested persons for loss caused by a breach of that duty. In all actions for breach of fiduciary duty or challenging the exercise of or failure to exercise a personal representative’s powers, the court must award taxable costs as in chancery actions, including attorney’s fees (Fla. Stat. § 733.609).

A personal representative can also be removed for certain causes. A personal representative may be removed and the letters revoked for causes that include failure to account for the sale of property or to produce and exhibit the assets of the estate when so required, wasting or maladministration of the estate, and holding or acquiring conflicting or adverse interests against the estate that will or may interfere with the administration of the estate as a whole; that conflicting-interests cause does not apply to a surviving spouse because of the exercise of the right to the elective share, family allowance, or exemptions (Fla. Stat. § 733.504). Whether a concern justifies court action turns on the facts and the governing documents. Whether a concern justifies court action turns on the facts and the governing documents.

Trust Counsel’s attorneys can serve individually as trustee or personal representative, and the firm advises and represents trustees, personal representatives and beneficiaries.

Creditor Claims and Questions About Ownership of Assets

Creditor claims and ownership questions decide what property belongs to the estate and what gets paid first. Before heirs receive property, valid debts may need to be resolved.

Those dates, under Fla. Stat. § 733.702, are the later of 3 months after the first publication of the notice to creditors or, for a creditor required to be served, 30 days after service on that creditor; and under § 733.710, no claim may be brought against the decedent 2 years after the person’s death, except as that section provides. Under Fla. Stat. § 733.702(1), the following claims are not binding on the estate, the personal representative, or any beneficiary unless they are filed in the probate proceeding within the deadline the statute sets: claims of the state and its political subdivisions, even if unmatured, contingent, or unliquidated; claims for funeral or burial expenses; claims for personal property in the personal representative’s possession; and claims for damages, such as an action founded on fraud or another wrongful act or omission of the decedent.

Ownership is a separate question. Property held in the deceased’s name alone is usually part of the estate. Jointly held property, accounts with a named beneficiary, and assets held in a trust may pass differently.

Is inheritance protected from lawsuits? Whether a creditor can reach an inheritance or trust asset turns on how the property is held, the trust’s terms, and the facts of the case.

How These Disputes Often Start and What Reduces the Risk

Most disputes trace back to a few preventable problems. Unclear documents, outdated beneficiary designations, unequal treatment with no explanation, and assets never moved into a trust are frequent triggers.

Clear, current documents help. Open communication among family members can ease tension. No plan removes every possibility of a dispute, though.

Reviewing an estate plan after major life events is a common practice. Marriage, divorce, a death, a new child, or a change in property ownership can make an older document out of date. Account designations should match the will, and the will should match what the maker wants.

Talking Through Your Situation With Trust Counsel

If you’re sorting out a will, trust, or family disagreement after a loss, you don’t have to work through it alone. Many people are helping a parent’s or sibling’s estate while still grieving, and the documents can be hard to read.

Trust Counsel, PL can review your facts, your documents, and the deadlines that may apply. The first consultation is free, confidential, and carries no obligation to continue. Call (305) 707-7126 or schedule online.

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