Common Grounds for Contesting a Trust in Florida
Disputes over trusts can arise when beneficiaries believe the trust was mismanaged or that the terms of the trust are unclear or invalid. The following are common grounds for contesting a trust in Florida:
A trust may be contested if it can be proven that the settlor was coerced or manipulated into creating or modifying the trust by someone who stood to benefit from those changes. Undue influence is often a subtle form of coercion and can be difficult to prove without evidence of manipulation or pressure.
In order for a trust to be valid, the settlor must have had the mental capacity to create or amend the trust. A claim based on lack of capacity asserts that the settlor did not understand the nature or effect of their decisions at the time the trust was created, due to cognitive decline or mental illness.
Fraudulent actions may include deceiving the settlor into creating a trust or amending it under false pretenses, such as telling the settlor that they were signing something other than a trust document. If fraud can be proven, the trust may be declared invalid.
If the trust was not executed according to the proper legal requirements, such as lacking the necessary witnesses or not being signed correctly, it may be contested. This is especially common in cases where the settlor altered or created the trust without legal counsel.
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