Krischbaum v. Dillon

The principal issue in this case is whether a rebuttable presumption of undue influence should arise whenever an attorney, unrelated to a testator by blood or marriage, prepares a will in which he or she is named as a beneficiary. We answer this question in the affirmative.

I

We start by considering the contestants’ fourth proposition of law, in which they contend that a presumption of undue influence arises whenever an attorney at law assists a client in the preparation of a will, and the attorney, who is not related to the testator by blood or by marriage, is a beneficiary under the will. The…