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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Tarnawa: Superior Court Has Concurrent Jurisdiction To Partition Inherited Real Estate (Link to Opinion)

In Tarnawa v. Goode, the NH Supreme Court (Hicks, J.) affirmed that the Superior Court has concurrent jurisdiction with the Probate Court to partition real estate, even though the owners previously inherited it in a NH probate proceeding.  Congratulations to Joshua Gordon who represented the prevailing party.  The decision is in accord with the general understanding that the Probate and Superior Courts have concurrent jurisdiction over partition actions.  The Court relied on its recent Rogers decision, which we discussed previously, for the proposition that Probate Court jurisdiction is to be construed narrowly.

(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.)