The Virginia Supreme Court recently issued a ruling that clarifies that under the Virginia Uniform Power of Attorney Act, trial courts may award monetary damages against an agent under a power of attorney, but may not issue an injunction directing that the agent must return money.
The issue arose due to language contained in the Virginia Uniform Power of Attorney Act, Section 64.2-1615(1), which provides that agents under powers of attorneys are “liable to the principal or the principal’s successors in interest for the amount required to [r]estore the value of the principal’s property to what it would have been had the violation not occurred.” At issue in the case (Mangrum v. Chavis, 18 Va. S. Ct. UNP 160782 (2018)) was whether this language provides that the agent under a power of attorney who is being sued for alleged financial improprieties may be forced by court order to restore money to the estate of the deceased principal under the power of attorney, or whether it provides merely that a money judgment may be entered against the agent.
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Last month, the Virginia Supreme Court handed down a ruling in an estate dispute that clarified the standard for admitting a will to probate, and further discussed the standard for admitting testimony concerning the decedent’s will when the genuineness of the will is called into question. The 
As more people elect to use revocable living trusts for estate planning purposes instead of traditional wills, the disposition of property will increasingly depend on the interpretation and determination of revocable living trust provisions. Virginia’s General Assembly (“General Assembly”), Virginia’s state legislature, recently acted, with 
This blog post discusses the steps that parents can take to disinherit a child and, in doing so, maximize their chances that their disinherited child won’t successfully challenge the parent’s will or trust.
Imagine your aging, widowed mother (“Mother”) has dementia and moves into assisted living. You live about four hours away from Mother. Your sibling (“Sibling”) lives about five (5) minutes away from Mother. Sibling becomes increasingly involved in Mother’s affairs. One day Sibling provides you with a copy of Mother’s recently changed will. The new will leaves everything to Sibling. Given Mother’s dementia, you are highly concerned because you don’t think Mother had the capacity to make the new will. You ask Sibling about the new will. Sibling says “It’s what Mother wants.”
Spoiler Alert: This post contains spoilers about the recent Star Wars movie, 
I recommend that before an ill or very elderly person signs a will (or trust), that the estate planning attorney obtain a note from a doctor as to the person’s mental capacity. Doing so will help create a record that will make it more challenging to contest the will (or trust) on the basis that the person lacked testamentary capacity (i.e., the requisite mental capacity in order to execute a will or trust).
Without question, one of the most common estate disputes we see centers around allegations that one person unduly influenced another person to write (or re-write) a will or trust. The typical situation involves an elderly person, no longer capable of living independently, who becomes increasingly reliant on another person for care and assistance.
The new year is a good time to look ahead at what trends we may expect to see in the area of estate litigation in 2018. I have 4 predictions.
