California fans of singer Glen Campbell may have heard that there has been a dispute over his estate. Campbell died in August 2017. In his estate plan, three of his children were disinherited. He left the estate to his wife and five of his other children.
The three disinherited children and his wife cannot agree on a trial date. She wants the trial to be held in April 2019 while they want it to be at the end of that year. There is also a dispute over whether Stanley Schneider, Campbell’s business manager, is required to reply to a subpoena. Attorneys for him and for Campbell’s wife say that deadlines, including the trial date, must be set before the subpoena is valid.
Campbell’s children’s attorney said the objection is baseless and that Schneider must respond. In the same brief, the attorney argued against several other points as well. He said the documents were not undiscoverable despite being old. He also said that the children do not need to formally file a complaint with their reasons for contesting the will since there is not a requirement for this under any statute. Furthermore, the judge has already stated that the grounds are a lack of testamentary capacity and undue influence.
When a person dies without an estate plan, the estate plan is unclear or the estate plan has elements that surviving family members do not agree with, there could be legal challenges. Family members might also pursue litigation if they feel that the executor of an estate is mismanaging assets. In a case such as this one, the grounds indicate that the children did not think their father was capable of making a binding legal decision and that he was also influenced by someone else.
Source: Tennessean, “Glen Campbell’s widow, disinherited children can’t agree on trial date, subpoena,” Walter F. Roche Jr., 8/23/2018