John J. Donahue

Will & Trust Contests · Los Angeles

Call 310-351-5434
A woman fills a weekly pill organizer at the kitchen counter; a walker and her mother's cardigan wait by the chair.

A story John hears every week

You were the one who stayed.

Illustration. Not a real client.

Six years of doctor’s appointments, pill organizers and Sunday dinners cut into small pieces. You learned which pharmacist to ask for and which neighbor would sit with Mom if you had to run to the store.

Your brother lived two hours away and came twice a year. In February he came for a week. He took Mom to “see a friend downtown.” She came home tired and didn’t remember where she’d been. In April she died, and in May you learned she’d signed a new will that week in February, leaving him the house.

What usually decides a case like this

What she understood that week, and who arranged it. The week your brother visited, the trip downtown, and how tired and unsure she came home are the center of this case. So are the questions of who chose the lawyer and who sat in the room.

Caregivers usually know that week better than anyone. Your calendar, your texts and the pharmacy log often pin down the dates in a way that’s hard to dispute.

Questions families ask in this spot

Does it hurt me that I was her caregiver?

Usually the opposite. Your notes and your memory of those months are often the strongest evidence there is.

How long do I have?

If the new will hasn’t been admitted to probate yet, the time to object is at or before the hearing. Once it’s admitted, a contest generally has to be filed within 120 days.

My brother says Mom was fine that day.

Maybe she was. Capacity is judged at the moment of signing. That’s why that week in February matters more than any other week.

More on will contests →

What you can do

  • Write down the timeline: the visit, the trip downtown, her condition that month.
  • Find out who drafted the new will and who was present when it was signed.
  • Gather her medical records from that period.
  • If the will has been filed in probate, note the date. Contest deadlines are short.
  • Call John before the will is admitted, if you can.

More stories John hears

Reading glasses resting on an old wooden jewelry box on a bedroom dresser, a folded handkerchief beside it, late-afternoon light on the wall.

The second wife

“Dad’s wife got everything. Her kids get it next.”

For years the plan included his children. In his last two years, it changed to everything to her.

An elderly man's hands rest on a table beside blank papers, a pen and reading glasses while a younger woman's hand rests on the papers.

The late change

The diagnosis and the signature, the same month.

Dad’s dementia was in his medical chart. So was the new trust amendment.

A woman sits at a kitchen desk in the evening, chin in her hand, a laptop and a face-down phone beside her, waiting.

The trustee

Your sister is the trustee. You haven’t seen a single statement.

Two years later, one phone call and a copy of the death certificate.