Houston Trust Dispute: Case Study
This post is a summary of a trust dispute I handled in Houston, which serves as a strong example of how trust disputes can unfold and how critical it is to dig deep into the documents before reaching conclusions.
The case involved a dispute among siblings following the death of their father, who owned a valuable commercial property in Houston. My client, one of the daughters, lived out of state. After her father passed away, she discovered that a last-minute trust amendment had cut her out of the family trust—an arrangement that her parents had carefully established years earlier when both were alive.
Her sister, who had cared for their father locally, was the one who arranged for him to sign the amendment. Believing something wasn’t right, my client hired me to contest it.
The Dispute: Capacity, Influence, and the Trust Documents
We challenged the amendment on two familiar legal grounds:
Lack of capacity – whether the father understood the legal effect of the trust amendment.
Undue influence – whether the sister used her position to pressure or manipulate their father’s decisions.
But the turning point in this case came not from witness testimony or medical records—it came from the trust documents themselves.
Opposing counsel initially insisted the case had no merit, relying on a doctor’s statement that the father was “of sound mind.” However, once we reviewed the trust language closely, we found provisions that did not permit the kind of amendment the sister attempted. In short, even if the father had full capacity, the change was invalid under the trust’s own terms.
The Result
After months of discovery and negotiation, the case resolved favorably. My client received a fair share of the trust assets, including proceeds from the commercial property.
This case illustrates an important lesson: sometimes, the key to winning a trust dispute isn’t just proving lack of capacity or undue influence—it’s uncovering technical or legal limits within the trust itself.
Key Takeaways
Trusts can be contested, just like wills, on grounds such as lack of capacity or undue influence.
Detailed document review can expose limits that make amendments legally invalid.
Trust disputes often involve significant assets, including land, commercial property, and investment accounts.
Having an experienced trust litigation attorney is critical when large assets and family relationships are at stake.
If you are involved in a will or trust dispute in Texas, work with a lawyer who routinely handles these complex cases and knows where to look for the details that make the difference.