A court has determined that Rocky Aoki’s widow, Keiko Aoki, should take under the will as a beneficiary. This determination comes from a challenge to her status by the children of the late-restaurant owner. His four children accused her of unduly influencing their father while he was suffering from the side effects of his medication. The court ruled that there was no evidence to suggest that the children’s father was coerced or that he lacked testamentary capacity. The dispute is still an on-going affair and so the trust will remain frozen for the time being. In 2008, Rocky passed away from complications of pneumonia. Shortly before he died, he changed his will to give his current wife 75% control over the assets of his trust. The trust grants her the authority to distribute funds from the trust to his children. Rocky made this decision because he hoped that it would foster acceptance of his wife from his children. Unfortunately, it is likely that the opposite has occurred with his family is fighting more than ever at the moment.
In this type of family situation, an attorney might want to consider preparing for a challenge will for a lack of testamentary capacity even if the attorney feels that success is on the merits is unlikely. There are several options that an attorney might consider to protect his or her client’s will from challenge. Some of the more common options are getting an expert to testify to a client’s testamentary capacity or video taping the will execution ceremony.
See Josh Crank, Benihana Founder’s Widow Wins Estate Battle Appeal, JDSupra, Aug. 24, 2012.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.
