Probate Lawsuits & Disputes in New Mexico

A trust is a legal entity created to hold property for the benefit of others. A beneficiary is a person who benefits from the property held by the trust. A trustee is the person appointed to manage the trust and ensure the property is used for the beneficiaries’ benefit.

Trust disputes arise when people

1.  Challenge the validity of a trust or its creation
2. Challenge the appointment of the trustee
3. Challenge how the trustee is managing the property.

Trust beneficiaries have a right to know how the trustee is administering the trust and its assets, and trust litigation often starts with a formal request by the beneficiary that the trustee tells them what is going on with the trust. On the other hand, many trust disputes start because the beneficiaries feel like the trustee is not being open with them or suspect the trustee may be mismanaging the assets or, sometimes, outright stealing them.

A will contest is a formal objection to a will’s validity. The person challenging the will argues that the will does not match the deceased person’s intentions or was not correctly executed. Only certain people may contest a will, and only for specific reasons.

Although there are a variety of reasons to challenge a will, the three most common are:

1. Undue Influence
2. Lack of testamentary capacity
3. Fraud

Each of these is related, and a challenger will often allege more than one ground when trying to set aside a will.

A personal representative stands in for the deceased person and is required to manage the deceased person’s affairs, including their debts and the distribution of their property. Most probate administration disputes arise when creditors or the heirs or beneficiaries of a deceased person’s estate believe or suspect that the personal representative is not correctly managing the estate’s assets and debts. Disputes may start as informal questions but often result in full-scale, long-term litigation.