Pre-Death Gift & Transfer Cases

Toledo Breach of Fiduciary Duty Lawyers

At Kolb & Zigray we help clients litigate pre-death gift and transfer disputes during probate. We are exclusively a probate litigation law firm. We handle legal probate disputes; will contests, trust contests, trustees' abuse of power. We represent clients from our Toledo location throughout the state of Ohio.

We handle pre-death and transfer cases where clients face issues including the following:

• abuse of powers of attorney - overspending, transferring money into own personal bank account, paying for own bills
• improper transfers of assets - unequal transfer before death; people often claim they received assets as gifts
• breaches of fiduciary duty - fiduciary misconduct, fraud, theft, abuse; trustees and executors owe a duty to the trusts or estates

The Hidden Contested Issues

Most pre-death gift and transfer misconduct disputes do not arise until we investigate further into probate litigation cases. These matters may not be as easy to spot until investigation into other probate issues occur. For instance, a family member may have spent the decedent’s money without permission. This may not be known until the estate is probated—when the accounts are assessed and balanced. At this point we can get involved. Perhaps a relative close to the deceased is found to have fraudulently used a credit card to run up debts under the deceased's name. This will often happen when a durable power of attorney was granted to a person, and he or she abused that power.

Asset Transfer without Intent of Permanent Transfer

In many cases a parent will accept the help of a child who takes on the responsibility of paying bills and shopping. The problem is not the help given; the problem is that the parent believes the best solution for payment of these bills is to put the child's name on the bank account. The account might be classified as a joint account with right of survivorship. Meaning that when a parent dies, the account survives and comes under control and ownership of the child. Survivorship may not have been the intent of the parent. We may be able to recover the funds back to the estate.

Contact Kolb & Zigray to speak with compassionate and determined Toledo breach of fiduciary duty lawyer.