Shortly before trial was scheduled to commence in a complex will contest case, Ware Jackson reached a favorable settlement for its clients. The clients had been putatively disinherited from a multi-million-dollar estate in which they had previously been beneficiaries. Ware Jackson alleged that the decedent had changed the estate plan while lacking capacity and as a result of fraud and undue influence, making the changes void. The litigation team included Don Jackson, Tyler Henkel, Michelle Blair, and Paul Smith.

Ware Jackson partner, Michelle Blair, has won an appeal. The Washington County Court at Law granted summary-judgment against our client after determining she had released her interest in an estate and therefore had no standing to challenge the co-beneficiary’s actions as executor. Following oral argument, the Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston reversed, holding the trial court had improperly failed to consider our client’s fraud claim.

The opinion is Estate of Schulze, No. 14-20-00836-CV, 2022 WL 678446 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] Mar. 8, 2022, no pet.). A video of the oral argument is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In2458QqUW8

Ware Jackson defeated a will contest on summary judgment and secured a significant legacy for a highly respected Houston charitable foundation. A longtime supporter of the foundation’s charitable interests, the decedent left his residual estate to the foundation in his will. The will was contested by the decedent’s siblings in hopes that they would receive the approximately $4.5 million residual estate. Ware Jackson successfully defended the will contest and secured the estate. Attorneys Don Jackson and Michelle Blair.