White v. Regions Bank

A stranger to the attorney-client relationship cannot invoke the attorney-client privilege.

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James Curtis Austin, the father of appellant Diane White, died on February 18, 1996. Mrs. White filed a caveat to the petition to probate Austin’s will in probate court on the grounds that the testator lacked the requisite capacity to execute the January 16, 1996, will offered for probate, and that the will was the product of the undue influence of Austin’s grandson and primary beneficiary, appellee Michael “Brad” Austin. Citing undue influence and lack of testamentary capacity, Mrs. White also filed a complaint in superior court in which she sought to invalidate a trust, a deed, and a bill of sale executed by the testator on the same day he executed the will to which Mrs. White had filed the caveat.1 Appellee Regions Bank, formerly known as First National Bank of Gainesville, was the executor of the contested will and the trustee of the testamentary trust established by the decedent. The probate matter was transferred to the superior court and the two cases were consolidated for trial. A jury returned a verdict in favor of the grandson and Regions Bank, and Mrs. White filed this appeal from the judgment entered by the trial court on the jury’s verdict.

1. Appellant contends she is entitled to a new trial because of what she perceives to be a fatal flaw in the trial court’s jury instruction on the presumption of undue influence when a person who is a primary beneficiary is in a confidential relationship with the benefactor. Georgia courts have often recognized that a presumption of undue influence arises where a confidential relationship existed between testator and beneficiary, with the testator being of weak mentality and the beneficiary occupying a dominant position. Crumbley v. McCart, 271 Ga. 274, 275 517 SE2d 786 1999. When the presumption arises, the burden is on the beneficiary to show there was no undue influence. Id. In the case at bar, the trial court informed the jury

White v. Regions Bank

A stranger to the attorney-client relationship cannot invoke the attorney-client privilege.

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