Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Table of Contents
- Why Will and Trust Contests Are Becoming More Common
- Defending the Estate Plan Itself
- Defending the Trust
- Defending the Trustee Personally
- Why Trustees and Executors Should Retain Counsel Early
- Why Choose Willis Law
When someone left out of a parent's estate plan decides to fight it, the fight usually lands on three fronts at once: the validity of the estate plan itself, the trust that now holds the assets, and the trustee who has to administer it while all of this plays out.
If you've been named trustee or executor and a beneficiary or disinherited family member has filed a challenge, the short answer is that all three of these can and should be defended together, with the trust's own funds typically covering the cost, since Michigan law generally allows a trustee to use trust assets to defend a properly created estate plan in good faith.
Why Will and Trust Contests Are Becoming More Common
Estate plans get contested for a range of reasons: a late-in-life amendment that favors one child over another, a caregiver named as a new beneficiary, or simply a family member who feels shorted and wants a court to take a second look. Whatever the underlying motivation, these cases tend to follow a familiar pattern. The person contesting the plan argues undue influence, lack of capacity, fraud, or a defect in how the document was executed. If successful, the challenge can unwind years of careful planning and put the trustee in the middle of a dispute they didn't create but now have to manage.
We're seeing more of these cases across our Michigan offices, and while some of them raise legitimate concerns, plenty of others are built on disappointment rather than genuine legal defects. Either way, the trust and the trustee need a real defense, not a hope that the challenge fades on its own.
Defending the Estate Plan Itself
The estate plan is the foundation everything else rests on. If a will or trust document gets thrown out, the trustee's authority to act under it goes with it. Defending the plan means addressing the specific grounds raised in the challenge:
Undue influence claims argue that someone pressured or manipulated the person who created the plan into signing something they wouldn't have agreed to otherwise. Defending against this usually involves the attorney who drafted the document, contemporaneous notes from that meeting, and evidence about the relationship between the person who made the plan and the people who benefit from it.
Lack of capacity claims argue the person didn't understand what they were signing at the time. Medical records, witness accounts from the signing, and any documentation the drafting attorney kept about the person's understanding of their assets and intentions all become relevant here.
Execution defects involve technical requirements, proper witnesses, notarization, and whether the document was signed and executed the way Michigan law requires. These issues are sometimes fixable and sometimes fatal to a challenge, depending on what actually happened when the document was signed.
A well-drafted estate plan, properly executed with good documentation at the time, tends to hold up. Part of defending it is simply gathering and presenting that documentation clearly for the court.
Defending the Trust
Once assets move into a trust, the trust itself can also come under direct attack, separate from arguments about the original will or amendment. Common trust-specific challenges include claims that the trust was improperly funded, that trust terms conflict with an earlier estate plan, or that the trust was modified in a way that didn't follow the proper legal process.
Defending the trust means confirming that funding, amendments, and administration have followed the terms of the trust document and Michigan trust law. This often overlaps with defending the estate plan itself, since many of these disputes start from the same root allegation (that the person who created the plan wasn't acting freely or with full capacity) but the legal analysis for a trust involves its own set of rules around funding, modification, and trustee authority that a will contest doesn't directly touch.
Defending the Trustee Personally
This is the piece that catches many trustees off guard: contests aren't only about the document, they often turn into claims against the trustee personally. Beneficiaries who lose a challenge to the estate plan sometimes pivot to arguing that the trustee mismanaged trust assets, failed to communicate properly, or breached a fiduciary duty in how they've handled administration since being appointed.
Breach of fiduciary duty claims can cover almost anything a disappointed beneficiary decides to point to, delayed distributions, investment decisions, accounting practices, or even the decision to defend the trust in the first place. A trustee facing this kind of claim needs their own defense, separate from the estate plan litigation, focused on showing that administration has followed the trust's terms and Michigan's fiduciary standards.
The good news for trustees is that acting reasonably and in good faith, with clear records of decisions made along the way, goes a long way toward defending against these claims. The trust can generally cover the legal costs of this defense as well, provided the trustee has been acting within their authority.
Why Trustees and Executors Should Retain Counsel Early
Here's the practical reality: when a will or trust is contested, the trust or estate typically has the funds to pay for a defense, while the person bringing the challenge often doesn't have comparable resources behind them. That difference matters. A trustee or executor who retains counsel promptly, using trust or estate funds as intended, is usually in a far stronger position than one who waits to see how serious the challenge becomes before responding.
Waiting also carries its own risk. Deadlines apply to responding to a contest, and a trustee who delays can end up facing both the original challenge and a separate claim that they failed to protect the trust promptly. Acting early, documenting decisions as they're made, and bringing in counsel as soon as a contest is filed puts the trustee in the best position to defend the plan, the trust, and their own conduct together rather than scrambling to catch up later.
If you'd like to see how we've handled similar matters for other trustees and executors across Michigan, our testimonials page has feedback directly from clients we've represented.
Why Choose Willis Law
Willis Law is a full-service firm based in Michigan, with offices in Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, and Paw Paw. Probate and estate litigation is one part of a broader practice that also covers criminal defense, family law, business transactions, real estate, and personal injury matters.
We operate on a Christian model of service, work with clients on fixed-price fees rather than the traditional hourly billing structure, and offer special rates to students, senior citizens, and military members. Consultations are free and available virtually, and our team is available 24/7, so a trustee facing a time-sensitive challenge doesn't have to wait for a convenient business hour to get a straight answer about their situation.
Whether the challenge targets the plan, the trust, or you personally as trustee, we can help you respond. Schedule a free consultation with Willis Law today, in person or virtually.