Our Clients
Our Services
Resolving Disputes Prior to Litigation
Our Estate and Succession Planning Department
Our Team
Trust, Estate and Fiduciary Litigation Articles
Trust, Estate and Fiduciary Seminar Materials
Dean Mead's Trust, Estate and Fiduciary Litigation Team represents beneficiaries, fiduciaries and financial institutions in all forms of disputes related to trusts and estates.
Our Clients
- Beneficiaries
- Fiduciaries, including Personal Representatives, Trustees, Conservators, Guardians, Attorneys
- Financial Institutions
- Trust Companies
Our Services
Will Contests -We represent beneficiaries who wish to challenge the validity of a will as well as personal representatives who have a fiduciary duty and obligation to defend the will. This includes wills that are challenged due to undue influence, mental incapacity, inadequate formalities, revocation, fraud or mistake.
Trust Actions: Trust Contests - Our Team represents beneficiaries who wish to challenge the validity of a trust as well as trustees who have a fiduciary duty and obligation to defend the trust.
Trust and Will Construction - When necessary, our Team reviews trust instruments and wills to determine credible interpretations of ambiguous or conflicting language in a way that is most favorable to our client.
Trust Actions: Trust Reformation - We prepare reformation documentation and represent a trust's interests in court and before the Internal Revenue Service.
Accounting Actions - Our Team assists beneficiaries with petitioning the court for accountings and we also prepare accountings for fiduciaries who are required to submit them.
Claims Against Fiduciaries: Fiduciary Misconduct - We defend fiduciaries against whom claims are made and prosecute such claims on behalf of beneficiaries and estate creditors.
Claims Against Fiduciaries: Fiduciary Removal - Our Team represents beneficiaries wishing to remove a fiduciary and fiduciaries who are defending against a removal action.
Claims Against Fiduciaries: Surcharge Actions - We represent beneficiaries bringing surcharge claims against fiduciaries as well as fiduciaries defending against surcharge claims.
Probate and Trust Appeals - When a client elects to challenge an adverse probate decision, our Team will file an appeal of the trial court decisions on behalf of our client.
Tax Appeals - We represent clients before the Internal Revenue Service and Florida Department of Revenue during audits and obtain judicial adjudications of disputes with these taxing authorities.
Guardianships - Our Team provides representation in connection with an action to appoint a guardian for a possibly incapacitated person, including minors as well as persons who are mentally or physically incapacitated. This includes representing the proposed guardian, the person who is alleged to be incapacitated or another interested person who may wish to challenge the proceeding.
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Resolving Disputes Prior to Litigation
Because litigation can be costly and time consuming for our clients, we seek practical solutions to avoid litigation whenever possible. Our team is experienced in alternative dispute resolution to assist clients in promptly addressing probate disputes prior to or at an early stage of litigation. However, if litigation cannot be avoided, our Team has substantial trial experience and we stand ready to represent clients in court.
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Our Estate and Succession Planning Department
Dean Mead's Estate and Succession Planning Team is one of the largest and most respected groups of estate planning attorneys in Florida. We are frequently called on by accountants, other attorneys, banks and trust companies to handle the most sophisticated estate planning, probate and trust administration cases. Our Team specializes in estate and trust administration matters and the development of estate plans which help our clients achieve maximum savings in income, estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes. We handle the traditional aspects of personal estate planning, such as the preparation of revocable trusts, wills, and irrevocable trusts. In addition, we work closely with our clients to plan for the succession of family businesses and wealth among generations in a tax efficient manner. We analyze and implement the latest techniques to reduce estate and gift taxes and preserve our clients' wealth, including limited liability business entities such as family limited partnerships and limited liability companies, GRATS, and charitable remainder and lead trusts. Further, we assist our clients with the preparation of estate and gift tax returns, audits of those returns, and appeals to the IRS and courts to contest proposed tax deficiencies.
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Our Team
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David J. Akins is co-chair of Dean Mead's Trust, Estate and Fiduciary Litigation Team. He has extensive experience in drafting Wills and Trusts, implementing other types of advanced estate planning initiatives, and federal gift tax and estate tax planning. His knowledge of probate and trust administration, as well as federal income tax, gift tax and estate tax, enables him to assist fiduciaries and beneficiaries of Estates and Trusts in developing innovative settlement strategies. In those instances in which a resolution of a contested or disputed Estate or Trust matter cannot be negotiated, he works with members of the Trust, Estate and Fiduciary Team who have extensive litigation experience to provide our clients with a team that is highly competent in both the state and federal laws governing Estates and Trusts and litigation practice and procedure. Mr. Akins earned his Master of Laws in Taxation from Emory University School of Law in 1987. |
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Marc D. Chapman is chair of the firm's Litigation Department and co-chair of the firm's Trust, Estates and Fiduciary Litigation Team. He focuses his practice in the area of commercial litigation and has successfully prosecuted and defended cases involving a wide variety of subjects including probate, trust and will disputes. |
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Matthew J. Ahearn is Board Certified in both Wills, Trusts & Estates and Tax Law by The Florida Bar Board of Legal Specialization. He is a member of Dean Mead's Trust, Estate and Fiduciary Litigation Team. Mr. Ahearn has extensive experience in the areas of estate and business succession planning, asset protection planning, charitable planning and planning to minimize or avoid wealth transfer taxes. He handles all aspects of probate and trust administrations, including estate and gift tax audits before the Internal Revenue Service. Mr. Ahearn represents both beneficiaries and fiduciaries in contested matters. In those cases that cannot be favorably resolved through negotiation, he works closely with members of Dean Mead's litigation department. Through this team approach, our clients receive expert advice on trust, estate and tax issues and the skillful advocacy of a seasoned member of our litigation team. Mr. Ahearn earned his Master of Laws in Taxation from the University of Florida in 1998. |
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Darryl M. Bloodworth is Board Certified in Civil Trial Law by The Florida Bar Board of Legal Specialization. He represents clients in complex litigation matters, including probate and fiduciary litigation. Mr. Bloodworth is listed in The Best Lawyers in America in Business Litigation and Bet-the-Company Litigation. He is also a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. |
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Lauren Y. Detzel is Board Certified in Wills, Trusts and Estates by The Florida Bar Board of Legal Specialization. She is chair of the firm's Estate and Succession Planning Department. Ms. Detzel specializes in techniques to reduce or avoid paying estate tax such as family limited partnerships, grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs), sales to intentionally defective trusts, charitable trusts, lifetime gifts and generation skipping trusts. Particular emphasis includes planning for the succession of closely held or family business. Ms. Detzel also handles many contested tax matters in the transfer tax area, ranging from audits of returns and administrative appeals within the IRS to Tax Court and Federal District Court litigation. She handles the entire gamut of administration of estates and trusts, including contested matters of will and trust interpretation and reformation. |
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David A. Gunter is a senior litigation attorney in Dean Mead's Viera office. He has extensive experience in general civil litigation, including trust litigation and contested probate matters such as will contests. |
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David P. Hathaway represents clients in litigation matters including trust, estate and fiduciary litigation. He previously represented a lifetime trust beneficiary to secure judicial reformation of a trust that had been substantially modified to reduce her benefits by more than $1.8 million only weeks before the testator's death. He has also written the article "Make It an Even 10: Courts Rely on More Than the Seven Carpenter Factors to Analyze a Claim for Undue Influence of a Will or Trust," published in The Florida Bar Journal, Vol. 83, No. 6, June 2009. |
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Joel C. Zwemer practices in the area of commercial litigation. He has successfully litigated a wide range of cases in federal and state courts including will contests, guardianship and trust litigation. |
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L. Reed Bloodworth practices in the areas of trust, estate and fiduciary litigation, commercial litigation, contract disputes, secured transactions and legal malpractice. |
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Erik N. Bonnett practices in the areas of estate planning, probate and estate administration, and taxation law, including corporate taxation, estate and gift taxation, and income taxation. He also assists clients in the area of state and local taxation. Mr. Bonnett earned his Master of Laws in Taxation from the University of Florida in 2007. |
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Brian M. Malec practices in the areas of estate planning, probate and estate administration and taxation law, including estate, gift and income taxation. He earned his Master of Laws in Taxation from the University of Florida in 2008. |
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Richard I. Withers practices in the areas of estate planning, business succession planning, probate and trust administration and tax planning for businesses and individuals. Mr. Withers earned his Master of Laws in Taxation from the University of Florida in 2007. |
Trust, Estate and Fiduciary Litigation Articles
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Date |
Title |
| June 2009 |
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| May 2009 |
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August 2008 |
Trust, Estate and Fiduciary Seminar Materials
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Date |
Title |
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September 2009 |
Trustees Beware: Understanding Your Trustee Duties and How to Stay Out of Trouble |
