The moment I read the U.S. Supreme Court’s Ruling in the Anna Nicole Smith case (a/k/a Marshall v. Marshall) I thought: “I guess I’ll be in federal court more often from now on.” Apparently I wasn’t the only one who thought this case would lead to more federal-court litigation involving trust and estates matters. Martha Neil in her article More Probate Suits Seen in Smith Ruling, ABA J. e-Report, May 5, 2006, reports that the case is expected “to open federal courtroom doors to a deluge of new estate-related litigation.” Here is an excerpt from her article:
Meanwhile, even those on the other side expect the Supreme Court decision in Smith’s case to open federal courtroom doors to a deluge of new estate-related litigation. “I think it’s going to be read primarily by litigators and it’s going to create another new litigation opportunity,” says James R. Wade, a Denver lawyer and former probate judge who filed an amicus brief on behalf of the National College of Probate Judges. “I think that the litigators are going to see opportunities which they hadn’t even thought of before of bringing probate cases in federal court.”