A university learned that a deceased donor’s planned charitable gift had been derailed by the surviving spouse’s actions, including destroying the donor’s will after her death and submitting a prior will that did not include the charity. Our team stepped in, restored control of the estate, untangled months of misuse, and ultimately secured more than $800,000 for the charity the donor had intended to support.
A Donor with a Vision, and a Beneficiary Left in the Dark
Our client, a major public university, learned only by chance that a longtime supporter had passed away. This donor had spent her life working diligently and had carefully crafted an estate plan that designated the university as the residuary beneficiary. Yet months after her death, the university had received no notice of probate and no communication from the donor’s surviving spouse.
When the donor’s family reached out with their own concerns, a clearer picture emerged: the surviving spouse had probated an earlier will in a different county and had begun treating the estate as solely his own, despite the existence of a later will leaving the bulk of the estate to the university. By the time the university contacted us, it was evident that the donor’s intentions were not being honored.
A Probate Gone Rogue
By the time we stepped in, the estate was in disarray. It quickly became apparent that, for more than sixteen months, the surviving spouse and his new partner had freely used estate assets. Key financial information was missing. Retirement accounts of significant value—portions of which were supposed to pass to the university as the donor’s charitable beneficiary—had been spent or invested in questionable ventures. The donor’s home, once well‑kept, had deteriorated.
The core problem was not just asset depletion; it was the delay. The donor’s chosen beneficiary had been deprived of the estate for more than a year while someone with no legal authority to do so acted as though the estate belonged entirely to him. Restoring order required both immediate action and careful long‑term strategy.
Stabilizing the Present to Reclaim the Past
Our priority was to regain control. Working with the court, we secured the appointment of an experienced, professional fiduciary to take over the administration of the donor’s estate. With proper authority restored, we then represented the professional administrator as she tirelessly gathered records, secured the real property, and began untangling the financial trail left behind.
Once the estate was stabilized, we turned our focus to recovering what the university was owed. We brought claims to restore the donor’s share of community property to the estate, particularly retirement assets exceeding $400,000, and we sought damages and legal fees for the harm caused to the university by the prolonged delay.
After prevailing in the lower court and then substantially prevailing on appeal, we worked with a CPA forensic expert to craft a precise analysis of damages. Using publicly available endowment performance data, the CPA demonstrated that the university’s typical investment returns would have yielded approximately an 18% annual return during the period of wrongful withholding. This analysis became the foundation of our damages argument.
Restoring What Was Lost, and What Was Intended
On remand, the trial court agreed with our expert-driven approach. The court awarded the university not only its community property share of the withheld assets and attorney fees, but also the full measure of time‑value damages, supported by the 18% investment-return analysis. In total, the recovery exceeded $800,000, allowing the donor’s carefully planned gift to finally reach its intended beneficiaries.
Although the road to resolution was long—spanning trial, appeal, and remand—the result honored the donor’s intent and ensured her generosity would support the scholarships and research she had envisioned. For the university and our client, this case reaffirmed the deceased donor’s intent. For our team, it reaffirmed the value of persistence, creativity, and careful stewardship in protecting a legacy at risk.
