Terry Franklin Presents at Minnesota CLE 2019 Probate & Trust Law Section Conference

Partner Terry Franklin is presenting “The 1846 Last Will of John Sutton – What’s Not So New in Will Drafting and Contests” at the 2019 Probate and Trust Law Conference hosted by Minnesota Continuing Legal Education. Mr. Franklin’s talk shares the story of his search to find evidence that would answer the question whether there was love in the relationship between his fourth great-grandfather, John, a white slaveholder in the Antebellum South, and his fourth great-grandmother, Lucy, who was described in John’s 1846 will as his ‘mulatto slave’. The will emancipated Lucy, the eight children and six grandchildren that John and Lucy shared. In this presentation, Mr. Franklin retraces the path to his discovery of the will, and the unexpected will contest that threatened to keep his family enslaved. Mr. Franklin addresses issues of drafting to anticipate potential problems, the estate planner as witness and how the facts of an estate planning meeting can play out at trial. The conference is being held June 10 – 11, 2019 at the St. Paul RiverCentre in St. Paul, MN.

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