In response to will or trust litigation, judges may read your response prior to the hearing and comment on some of the facts involved, potentially affecting the preliminary rulings by the court. Sometimes, however, the judge never reviews the response, and the case will progress to trial. In preparation for your response, you should be prepared to give enough detail to help but not too much detail, especially if the facts are subject to change as discovery is conducted. This can make favorable facts harder to prove if there is no document or witness to support the presumed fact. It is important, however, not to lie in your response, but you may not know the answer to every obscure question. Ultimately, your response should be short and to the point.
See California Trust and Probate Litigation, Not Too Much . . . And Not Too Few: Reciting the Facts of a Trust or Will Lawsuit, Wealth Management, September 8, 2016.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.
