Gleicher Drafts Will with Successful In Terrorem Clause

Today's New York Law Journal reported a Kings County Surrogate's Court Order enforcing provisions in the Will of a late Olshan client that prohibited the Will's beneficiaries from contesting the Will in any way on pain of disinheritance. Judicial opinions on in terrorem clauses are rare. The Will's beneficiaries engaged in discovery outside the statutory protections that allow a beneficiary to undertake a limited investigation of a Will's validity without triggering its in terrorem clause. The Court upheld Olshan's Will and revoked the client's bequest to that beneficiary. Olshan partner Warren R. Gleicher drafted the Will at issue, including the in terrorem clauses, and Olshan associate Jack M. Kint, Jr. represented the executrix on her petition to enforce those clauses.