Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Michigan

Re: joint accounts trump a trust/will

The short answer to your question is that there is a presumption the assets trump the will or trust. They are yours. Your siblings will have to establish that your father was not competent, under duress or undue influence. All legal terms.

If they can present evidence, even by lying, they may but not likely establish that you are a constructive trustee and must follow the terms of the will/trust.

This is what we specialize in. Our web site is www.tcfel.com. Please feel free to contact me or my partner Andrew Mayoras who is our litigator in this issues.

Remember it is always about the money and if not control.

Don Rosenberg

Re: joint accounts trump a trust/will

Since I am not the trier of fact, I can't tell you whether you would win or lose. What I can tell you, however, is that if your siblings are alleging that you somehow coerced, tricked, or unduly influenced your parent to make you the survivor in the CD, they have to meet the burden necessary to prove their allegations. The burden of proof they must meet is by the preponderance of the evidence-which means there must be an approximately 51% percent chance that what they claim happened actually happened.

In that it is never any fun to be named defendant in a lawsuit and hauled into court, you should be worried-worried enough at least to get an attorney to make sure that your interests are adequately protected.

But beyond the preceding gloom and doom, let me tell you that if your parent's testamentary wishes omitted the CD, and the CD itself granted you rights of survivorship, that CD is said to pass outside of the estate and is not subject to the terms and conditions of a will or trust established by a will.

Good luck!