Estate of Lakatosh
Superior Court of Pennsylvania
656 A.2d 1378 (Pa. Super. 1995)
Roger (defendant) became isolated Rose's daily caretaker, advisor, and confidant, arranged for his own cousin-attorney to represent her in a slander suit and to draft both her power of attorney and a will leaving her nearly $269,000 estate almost entirely to him, and during roughly the same period converted over $128,000 from her estate while her living conditions deteriorated and her bills went unpaid; Spry, as guardian of her estate (plaintiff), petitioned to revoke the will on undue-influence grounds, and the court ordered revocation.
Whether undue influence is presumed if the will's proponent enjoyed a confidential relationship with the decedent and received the bulk of the decedent's estate, and the decedent suffered from a weakened intellect.