Probate litigation happens when someone has passed away and we are going through probate. Usually, an heir or a beneficiary is unhappy, so they decide to contest the will or claim common law marriage. Most of the time, an argument is made that the person who passed away did not have the mental capacity to write the will or that they were subject to undue influence from someone else. Another commonly litigated issue is a runaway executor. I currently have a case concerning a 7 figure estate that has been going through probate for years. There is a will and it’s very simple. My client has a terminal illness and cannot even afford to pay for his own medical care because the executor has refused to make any distributions from the estate. The executor is paying himself thousands of dollars every year to manage the estate and not distributing anything to the heirs. My client needs access to those funds, so I am trying to force the issue and make the executor either do his job or get him removed, so my client can get access to his inheritance. Probate litigation happens when someone is not doing what they are supposed to and we need to bring in the lawyers to litigate. It is very expensive. Trials cost tens of thousands of dollars or more and, unfortunately, it happens a lot. Many of my estate planning clients choose a revocable living trust-based estate plan in order to avoid having to go through probate.