St. Petersburg, FL asked in Estate Planning, Criminal Law and Libel & Slander for Florida

Q: Family member has died. Family member named one person as beneficiary. Advice appreciated.

A close family member has died. Only one person was named beneficiary of the estate. The beneficiary truly loved the family member that died and took care of that family member with good intentions for a long time. Other people in the family did nothing to help the grantor when he was very sick and they were estranged due to toxic neglectful behavior for a long time to both the grantor and the beneficiary. The beneficiary was unaware that the estate was left to them until after family member died and the lawyer explained the will. The toxic family members also were informed about the will and that due to neglectful behavior they were not included in the estate. They are now harassing and slandering the beneficiary causing mental and physical distress. Any advice is appreciated and thank you.

1 Lawyer Answer

A: There is nothing the toxic family members can do, but if they keep it up, the person being slandered can consider getting a civil litigation attorney and filing suit against them for these behaviors, at best it may be to just ignore them if possible and hopefully they will tire, if not, then consideration of a restraining order and filing a civil lawsuit against them may need to be considered.

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