Estate & Trust
Litigation

When a dispute arises over a will, trust, or fiduciary obligation, the outcome turns on experience, preparation, and command of a highly technical body of law. We represent beneficiaries, fiduciaries, and families in the full spectrum of contested estate and trust matters — in probate court, civil court, and on appeal.

"Trust and estate disputes are among the most legally complex — and personally painful — matters a family can face. The intersection of grief, money, and family dynamics demands counsel who is not only technically fluent but strategically clear-eyed about what is truly at stake."

Services

  • Will Contests (Capacity, undue influence & fraud)

  • Trust Contests (Validity, formation & execution challenges)

  • Breach of Fiduciary Duty (Against trustees, executors & administrators)

  • Trust & Will Construction (Interpretation of ambiguous instruments)

  • Trust Reformation (Correction of drafting errors & mistakes)

  • Trustee Removal Proceedings (Petitions & defense of sitting trustees)

  • Accounting Actions (Compelling or defending estate accountings)

  • Tortious Interference (With inheritance or testamentary expectancies)

  • Beneficiary Disputes (Distribution conflicts & delayed disbursements)

  • Guardianship & Conservatorship (Contested proceedings & capacity disputes)

  • Estate Tax Disputes (Valuation contests & IRS examination)

  • Probate Litigation (Contested administrations & creditor claims)

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Under Texas law, a will may be contested on several grounds. The most frequently litigated are: lack of testamentary capacity (the testator lacked sufficient mental capacity at the time of execution); undue influence (a third party's influence overcame the testator's free will and substituted their own); fraud (the testator was induced to execute the will by a material misrepresentation); and improper execution (the will was not executed in compliance with the statutory formalities required by the Texas Estates Code). A successful contest results in the challenged will being denied probate — meaning a prior valid will, or the laws of intestacy, govern the distribution of the estate instead.

  • Trustees owe a bundle of legally defined duties to the beneficiaries of the trust. The most significant are the duty of loyalty (acting solely in the interest of the beneficiaries, not the trustee's own interest), the duty of prudence (managing trust assets as a prudent investor would), the duty of impartiality (balancing the interests of current and remainder beneficiaries), and the duty to inform and account (keeping beneficiaries reasonably informed and providing accountings when required). A trustee who self-deals, fails to invest prudently, favors one class of beneficiaries over another, or conceals information from beneficiaries may be liable for breach of fiduciary duty — and courts may surcharge the trustee for resulting losses, remove the trustee, or award attorney's fees.

  • Timing in will and trust contests is critical and fact-specific. Under the Texas Estates Code, a will contest must generally be filed within two years of the date the will is admitted to probate — though there are exceptions for fraud and certain circumstances involving minors. Trust contests are governed by different provisions and may involve shorter limitation periods in some situations. The practical lesson is that delay is almost never in a contestant's interest: evidence fades, witnesses become unavailable, and courts look skeptically at claimants who sat on their rights. If you believe you have grounds to contest a will or trust, you should seek legal counsel promptly.

  • Yes — and in many cases, it should be. Texas law provides several non-judicial mechanisms for resolving trust disputes, including non-judicial settlement agreements (NJSAs) among trustees and beneficiaries with capacity, and trust modifications by consent under the Texas Trust Code. Mediation is also widely used and frequently successful in trust and estate disputes, even in cases that have already been filed in court. Whether a non-judicial resolution is available and appropriate depends heavily on the nature of the dispute, the parties involved, and the terms of the trust instrument. We assess each case individually and recommend the path most likely to serve the client's interests — which sometimes means negotiating a settlement, and sometimes means litigating through trial.

  • In trust proceedings, it is often necessary to bind parties who cannot represent themselves — minor beneficiaries, unborn beneficiaries, or those with legal incapacity. Texas law permits "virtual representation," under which a person with a substantially identical interest may represent and bind a party who cannot act for themselves, without the need for separate legal representation or a court-appointed guardian ad litem in every instance. Understanding virtual representation — when it applies, when it is adequate, and when it is not — is essential in any trust proceeding that involves modification, reformation, or construction of a trust instrument with a broad beneficiary class.

  • The answer depends on the nature of the claim and the outcome. Texas courts have discretion to award attorney's fees from the estate or trust in certain proceedings — particularly those brought for the benefit of the trust or estate as a whole, such as accountings, construction actions, and some trustee removal proceedings. In adversarial contests between parties with competing interests, fees are more typically borne by each party, though a court may award fees against a losing party in appropriate circumstances. For individual beneficiaries and claimants, the fee arrangement — hourly, contingency, or hybrid — is negotiated at the outset of the engagement based on the specific facts and the nature of the claim.

When Planning Meets Conflict

Even the most carefully drafted estate plan can become the subject of a dispute. A testator's capacity may be questioned. A trustee may fail in their duty of loyalty or prudence. A beneficiary may allege that a loved one was unduly influenced in the final years of their life. A will may be ambiguous in ways its drafter never anticipated. In each of these situations, what follows is litigation — often in probate court, sometimes in civil court, and occasionally all the way through appeal.

Estate and trust litigation is a specialized discipline. It requires a command of the Texas Estates Code, the Texas Trust Code, and the procedural rules that govern probate proceedings — combined with the advocacy skills to conduct depositions, examine witnesses, brief complex legal questions, and, when necessary, try a case before a judge or jury. At The Private Client Law Firm, our litigation practice is fully integrated with our planning practice, which gives us a distinctive understanding of how these instruments are constructed, where they can fail, and what arguments are most likely to succeed on both sides of a dispute.

Who We Represent

We represent clients on both sides of estate and trust disputes — bringing equal experience and rigor to each position. Our clients include:

  • Beneficiaries: Individuals who believe they have been wrongfully denied, delayed, or diminished in their inheritance or trust distributions.

  • Trustees & Corporate Fiduciaries: Trustees — individual and institutional — defending breach of duty claims and seeking court guidance on their obligations.

  • Executors & Personal Representatives: Those charged with administering an estate who face creditor claims, will contests, or family disagreements.

  • Surviving Spouses: Spouses asserting community property rights, spousal election claims, or challenging the validity of pre- or post-nuptial agreements.

  • Heirs & Disinherited Parties: Individuals who believe a will or trust fails to reflect the genuine, uninfluenced wishes of the decedent.

  • Charitable Organizations: Nonprofit and charitable beneficiaries protecting their interest in contested estate or trust instruments.

The Disputes We Know Best

  • Will & Trust Contests: A will or trust contest challenges the validity of the instrument itself. The most common grounds are lack of testamentary or trust capacity, undue influence, fraud, and improper execution. These cases require a deep factual investigation — medical records, financial histories, testimony from witnesses present during the signing — combined with a rigorous understanding of the legal standards that govern each theory of invalidity.

  • Breach of Fiduciary Duty: Trustees, executors, and administrators owe legally defined duties to the beneficiaries they serve — duties of loyalty, prudence, impartiality, and full disclosure. When a fiduciary self-deals, invests imprudently, fails to account, or prioritizes their own interests over those of the trust or estate, beneficiaries have legal remedies. We have represented both fiduciaries defending these claims and beneficiaries pursuing them.

  • Trust Construction & Reformation: Not every trust dispute is adversarial. When a trust instrument is ambiguous, incomplete, or contains a drafting error that frustrates the settlor's clear intent, parties may seek court intervention to construe or reform the document. We counsel clients through both contested and uncontested construction proceedings, including virtual representation of minor and unborn beneficiaries.

  • Guardianship & Capacity Disputes: When a person's mental capacity is in question — whether in the context of an estate plan that has already been executed or a guardianship proceeding to be established — the stakes are intensely personal. We represent family members, proposed guardians, and parties opposing contested guardianships, with particular sensitivity to the dignity and autonomy interests of the individual at the center of the proceeding.

  • Estate Tax Valuation Disputes: Estate tax disputes involving closely held business interests, real property, or other complex assets frequently turn on valuation — a deeply fact-intensive inquiry that intersects federal tax law and litigation strategy. We work closely with our tax practice and qualified appraisal experts to challenge or defend IRS valuations through the administrative process and, when necessary, in Tax Court.

  • Tortious Interference with Inheritance: Texas recognizes a civil cause of action for tortious interference with inheritance — a claim available when a third party's intentional wrongful conduct caused a testator to change or fail to make a testamentary disposition they would otherwise have made. These cases often arise alongside will contests and require both careful factual development and strategic coordination of parallel legal theories.