Police Officer Loses Job and Webber Inheritance

The Webber case, involving an elderly woman who was leaving more than $2 million mostly to charities until she met a young police officer, is decided at last. The officer, already fired from the force, loses his inheritance as well.

The court found Aaron Goodwin exerted undue influence over Geraldine Webber, who was in her 90s when she made a new will leaving Goodwin her waterfront home and other assets.

The Portsmouth Herald, our local paper, covered the Webber case like a blanket, spotlighting local attorneys who had refused – or in one case agreed – to draft her new will and questioning the actions or inactions of the police department and its commissioners.

How much of the more than $2 million is left to distribute, under Webber's earlier will, has yet to be reported.

Postscript: Morning paper just arrived. Can't accuse them of downplaying the story.

Webber Case (Our Own Jarndyce and Jarndyce) Goes to Trial

First mentioned here in February 2013 (the link to the video of Webber signing her contested last will and trust seems to have vanished) the question of whether a helpful young police officer should inherit most of the elderly woman's  $2.7 million estate finally goes to trial tomorrow.

Unlike most "undue influence of perhaps not competent old person" cases, charitable beneficiaries under an earlier will, not disinherited family members, are the driving force in the contest. Last year a potential settlement was reached, leaving the police officer with more than $400,000, but  charitable beneficiaries objected.

A dozen or so  lawyers are now involved. If the police officer wins, considered a long shot, an appeal is possible. In Dicken's Jarndyce and Jarndyce, the lawyers finally got it all. Could it happen here?

See the Portsmouth Herald preview of the court proceedings.

The Law's Delays

2013. Contested Inheritance Goes on Sabbatical. 

Less than a year before her death at 93 in 2012, Geraldine Webber largely disinherited the beneficiaries of her earlier will in favor of a young policeman. The resulting will contest (a trust contest, really) is unusual in that the aggrieved beneficiaries are charities, not relatives. For an earlier newspaper report and a link to a video of Webber executing her will, see Will Contest Goes to the Video.

When will the case go to trial? Not soon. The judge has approved a one-year sabbatical, perhaps to give the contending parties more time to reach a settlement.

1913. The Game

Big-time college football contests drawing vast crowds are now commonplace. A century ago, nothing compared to The Game. When Yale played Harvard, even justice was delayed.

The New York Sun, November 21, 1913

Will Contest Goes to the Video

Comfortably off and living in a waterfront home, a women in her 90s planned to leave everything to charity until she met a handsome, helpful police sergeant. Seven months before she died, she executed a new will – a trust, actually – leaving the sergeant the bulk of her estate.

Predictable result: a will contest, which now takes a new twist in the form of a video of the signing.

Was the elderly woman competent to reshape her estate plan? You can form your own opinion. This Portsmouth Herald article includes a link to a clip from the video.