Undue Influence Lawyer St. Petersburg
Worried someone pressured your loved one into rewriting their estate plan?
Speak Directly With Matt Weidner Today for a free same-day action plan on a suspicious will or trust change
- Review your concerns with Matt Weidner, 25+ years practicing in Florida
- Learn what Florida courts look for in undue influence claims
- Pinpoint the warning signs and evidence worth preserving now
- Understand the filing deadlines that may already be running
- Weigh your options for challenging the will, trust or deed
- Your evaluation is 100% free, no pressure, no commitment required
Free reviews are offered at our discretion and are not guaranteed, and a personal review by Matt Weidner, including same-day timing, is subject to case type and availability.
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Why Choose Us?
When a parent’s will or trust suddenly favors the person who was managing their care, their money or their visitors, families are often left with a bad feeling and no clear idea what to do with it. Undue influence is hard to see because it usually happens behind closed doors. Florida law accounts for that: in the right circumstances it presumes undue influence and shifts the burden to the person who benefited. Matt Weidner has practiced law in Florida for over 25 years, and from his St. Petersburg office he can help you see quickly whether your facts point that way.
Speed matters. Once a will is admitted to probate, the window to object can close three months after you are served with the notice of administration, and memories and records fade. We help you organize what you already know, identify what still needs to be gathered, and choose a next step while your options are still open.
Start with a free evaluation and action plan from Matt today.
How It Works
1
get your free same-day evaluation and action plan
Submit the form above or give us a call to get started. People find our free evaluations and action plans extremely valuable.
2
discuss your options With Matt so you know exactly how to proceed
Matt will go over all of your options with you so that you know exactly what to do. No more confusion!
3
Get More Undue Influence Help If Needed
After your evaluation, Matt can take on the filings, evidence and hearings your claim may require, drawing on over 25 years of Florida practice.
Free evaluations and action plans are offered at our discretion, depend on case type and availability, and are not guaranteed, including a personal review by Matt Weidner. Submitting a form or contacting the firm does not create an attorney-client relationship or guarantee any outcome.
Meet Matt Weidner and the Weidner Law Team
Matt Weidner has been licensed in Florida since 1999 and is admitted to all Florida state courts, the federal Middle and Northern Districts of Florida and the 11th Circuit. His practice covers probate and general litigation, and an undue influence case needs both: the claim usually plays out in probate proceedings, but it turns on evidence, witnesses and testimony. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America for Litigation – Real Estate. When you call about a will or trust that changed under troubling circumstances, you will often talk with Matt himself.
Associate attorney Jason M. Kral works with Matt and brings a background in complex civil litigation, real estate litigation and estate planning. Together, the Weidner Law team can help you gather prior wills, trust amendments, deeds, medical records and bank statements, and turn them into a clear timeline of what changed and who was involved.
Our Undue Influence Services
Undue influence claims sit where probate, trust and will disputes meet litigation. We help families question a suspicious change and help beneficiaries respond when a gift is challenged, from the first objection through the court process.
- Will challenges for undue influence
- Trust amendment challenges
- Deed and property transfer disputes
- Probate objections and petitions
- Evidentiary hearings on undue influence
- Defending accused beneficiaries
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Who we Help
You may be a son or daughter left out of a parent’s new will, a sibling who watched one relative take over, or a beneficiary now accused of applying pressure. If a late change to a loved one’s plan feels wrong, we can help you sort out what happened.
- Children disinherited by a late change
- Heirs replaced by a parent's caregiver
- Children of a newly remarried parent
- Siblings shut out by another sibling
- Relatives kept away from a parent
- Beneficiaries accused of undue influence
Frequently Asked Questions
Undue influence is pressure or manipulation that overrides a person’s free will, so the document reflects someone else’s wishes instead of theirs. Under Florida law, a will or trust, or any part of one, procured by undue influence is void. Call us to talk through what you have seen.
Usually the person challenging the document, but that can change. If a substantial beneficiary had a confidential relationship with the person and was actively involved in getting the document made, Florida presumes undue influence and the burden shifts to that beneficiary.
Often as little as three months after you are served with a notice of administration, which is generally the deadline to object to a will in Florida. Trust challenges have their own deadlines, which can be as short as six months. Call us as soon as you suspect a problem.
You tell Matt what changed, when, and who was involved, and he explains what Florida courts look at, what evidence may help, and the options in front of you. The evaluation is free, and there is no obligation to hire the firm.
Reviews
How Weidner Law Builds An Undue Influence Case
Undue influence is rarely proven by one document; it shows up as a pattern. When Weidner Law reviews a case, it looks for the signs Florida courts have weighed since the Florida Supreme Court’s 1971 Carpenter decision: whether the beneficiary was present when the parent spoke of wanting a new will or when it was signed, recommended the lawyer, gave the lawyer instructions, knew the contents before signing, lined up the witnesses, or kept the original afterward. Isolation from family and a sharp, unexplained break from earlier plans weigh in too.
Weidner Law builds each claim by setting those signs against the record: earlier wills and trust versions, the drafting attorney’s file, medical and financial records, and the accounts of people who were there. Where the facts support Florida’s presumption of undue influence, Matt uses it to shift the burden to the beneficiary, who then has to explain the change. As your undue influence lawyer in St. Petersburg, his job is to put that picture in front of the court clearly.
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Undue Influence Representation For St. Petersburg And Pinellas County Families
Weidner Law’s office is at 856 2nd Ave N in St. Petersburg, and Matt Weidner practices in the state and federal courts of Florida. When a parent who lived in St. Petersburg or elsewhere in Pinellas County dies, the estate is generally administered in the circuit court of Florida’s Sixth Judicial Circuit, which serves Pinellas and Pasco counties. That is where an objection to a will based on undue influence is usually filed and decided.
A local lawyer helps in these cases for practical reasons. The people who saw what happened in a parent’s last years, such as neighbors, longtime friends, home health aides and staff at a bank branch or doctor’s office, are often right here, and so are many of the records. A first conversation with Matt can map out that timeline and show you what to gather and when the deadlines fall.
What Weidner Law Brings To Both Sides Of An Undue Influence Dispute
Matt Weidner earned his J.D. from Florida State University College of Law in 1999. After the 2008 financial crisis he represented hundreds of Florida homeowners facing foreclosure, work covered by the Tampa Bay Times, and he was interviewed for George Packer’s book The Unwinding. Foreclosure defense turns on documents, and so does an undue influence case. For a family challenging a will, trust or deed, that means testing who signed, when, who was in the room and what the earlier plans said.
Weidner Law can also help a beneficiary who is accused of undue influence. Caring for a parent is not the same as controlling one, and the evidence that answers the presumption may already be there: a drafting attorney who met with the parent alone, a parent who managed their own money and stayed in touch with family, and a plan consistent with earlier wishes. Whichever side you are on, Matt can give you a direct, honest read of where you stand.
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