Probate & Trust Litigation

A resource for lawyers and the public in Massachusetts and New Hampshire for information on will contests, trust disputes, guardianships, conservatorships, elder exploitation, fiduciary duty claims, and other probate litigation disputes.


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Extending Estate Creditor SOL (Link To Pleading)

We are always on the lookout for exemplary Probate Court pleadings for the Pleadings Bank and we thank Christopher Cole and Nicole Faille for allowing us to post this impressive pleading they filed requesting the court to extend the statute of limitations for assertion of a creditor claim against a probate estate.  The deadlines for a creditor of a NH estate are strict: the creditor must serve a demand with the amount claimed on the administrator within six months of the administrator’s appointment and then file suit within the following six months.  If either deadline is missed, the claim may be barred.  Even partial payment by the administrator does not relieve the creditor of these deadlines.  The only relief available to a late creditor is to file a petition with the court setting “forth all the facts” as to why “justice and equity require [an extension] and [why] the claimant is not chargeable with culpable neglect.”  This Pleadings Bank addition carefully lays out in detail the facts and compellingly argues with many cites to the case law the reasons supporting the request for an extension.  It is a model for counsel to follow.

(Note: Ralph Holmes is currently retired from McLane Middleton. For information on this or other probate litigation issues, please contact Alexandra Cote at alexandra.cote@mclane.com.)