Litigation, in the context of estate planning documents, ranges significantly. For disputes for durable general powers of attorney, the issue normally is that the attorney-in-fact is abusing her role as attorney in fact, breaching her fiduciary duty to the grantor, and in some cases stealing the grantor’s assets or making unauthorized beneficiary changes. Challenges to an advance directive may range from disagreement over what the agent may or may not do, having the hospital honor the agent’s instructions or having the hospital or nursing home honor the end of life decisions in the advanced directive. Challenges to a last will and testament are called caveats and range from the accusation that the signature is false (.i.e. fraud); the signature is not valid (undue influence and competency) and/or that the document was improperly executed.

It is critical to have an elder law attorney review your case to highlight the strengths and weaknesses, provide a roadmap of what to expect, and discuss realistic expectations even before the case begins.