Haynes v. First National State Bank of New Jersey

Isabel Dutrow lived with, and depended heavily on, her daughter Betty Haynes and Betty's two sons until Betty died; Dutrow then moved in with her other daughter, Dorcas Cotsworth, and Dorcas's husband. Dutrow's earlier wills, drafted by her own longtime attorney, had treated the two family branches equally. But after moving in with the Cotsworths, Dutrow began using the Cotsworths' own family attorney, Buttermore, who drafted new wills and trusts that eventually left everything to Dorcas and cut out Betty's sons entirely. After Dutrow's death, Betty's sons (plaintiffs) sued the executor, First National State Bank of New Jersey (defendant), to invalidate the final estate plan on grounds of undue influence, pointing to both Dutrow's dependence on the Cotsworths and Buttermore's conflicted representation of Dutrow and the Cotsworth family simultaneously. The trial court found a presumption of undue influence arose but held the Cotsworths rebutted it by a preponderance of the evidence, and the appellate division affirmed.