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Five Ways To Win In A Probate Dispute

Posted: Friday, 2 October 2020 @ 09:10

In a probate dispute what are the ways to maximise your chances of winning and ensuring that you have a successful outcome? There are no silver bullets in any legal case but here are some thoughts which may help.

1 Have A Plan - In the cases I fight for my clients I visualise winning in Court and/or securing great outcomes. This result is one focused on securing the primary objective of the client be it getting a property sold, executor removed, just monies obtained. The point is that you have an end destination and moreover your lawyer and you have a clear idea of the staging points on this journey.     

2 Face Reality - To what extent have you factored the impact of external events such as Covid 19 on your case in that it will impact the resources of the Court you are dealing with, your resources  and your opponent's position? Have you done a SWOT analysis of your case? (Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats). Have you discussed the level of costs which will be incurred with your lawyer? Fundamentally have you brought everything into your consciousness about your legal prospects on your dispute? And what are you doing with that knowledge?

3 Take an Understated Position In Style- In an adversarial legal system I have found that often  I have managed to secure better outcomes for clients by taking an understated tone (not in action). This leads to the potential to have more impact on the opposing lawyer and crucially the judge. For example, if I am in Court I will be more focused on the chronology and documents going before the Judge rather than partisan nature of a Skeleton Argument. Judges are used to partisan arguments so these have limited impact. What you do is applying influencing skills to get the outcome you want. 

4 Be Decisive and Aggressive in Action - I think one of criticisms of some lawyers is that they can allow themselves to get sucked into bickering correspondence with the other side which do not do much good except create high fees. Correspondence between lawyers may be useful but it must serve a purpose such as narrowing issues of dispute, understanding the other side or trying to obtain information. Sometimes aggressive correspondence achieves better outcomes but can often be counter-productive. However decisive action such as calmly carrying out a threat which has been thought through beforehand does work provided that is part of a well thought plan.    

5 Persevere - Memo to yourself and your lawyer. “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

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