Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New Jersey

Re: Deceased son and his heirs

I would need more facts and probably a copy of the will to be certain, but as you describe it, the will language would essentially disinherit the deceased son's children.

As for the undue influence claim, obviously that's a factual issue that would need to be proven.

The attorney drafting the will must explain the meaning of the will to your grandparents so that they understand it and he must draft the will so that it does what they want it to do. If he didn't explain it properly and as a result, it did not do what they wanted, he may have a malpractice issue to deal with.

Re: Deceased son and his heirs

I agree with Jon. However, while including the children of deceased children, to take the parent's share is the traditional way of doing things, there could be legitimate reasons for the traditional way not to be followed. The reason may not be undue influence, but may be based upon another reason (like the grandchildren may have inherited a large amount from the deceased parent and do not need to inherit from the grandparent's estate). You are also correct that the traditional way of doing things might not have been explained to your grandparents, which might be malpractice on the part of the drafting attorney, for not inquiring nor raising the question. I never presume that surviving children will do the right thing, so I insist that my clients consider the alternatives (include or exclude grandchildren) and have a provision in the Will explaining why, if they are excluded, they were excluded. There are many cases of undue influence if this claim is ultimately raised. Undertand that a Will contest can be very expensive, so I suggest trying to talk to your grandparents to ascertain what they did and why. If necessary, tell them that there have been isntances when children have been given oral instruction and they were not followed, so it is better to rewrite the Wills, to do what they want. I have not seen the Will, so I do not know how it was revised. For example, what happen if one of the remaining children were also to predecase a grandparent, are his/her children also excluded, so only the last surviving child gets everything? What if both remaining children were to predecease them? Does no one get the estate? Sounds like poor draftsmanship may be involved. Contact me directly if you have any questions or need assistance.