Mary McDaniel was married to Luther McDaniel for over 60 years, until her death at age 87 in December 2006. Luther died two-and-a-half years later in June 2009 at the age of 92. The McDaniels had two sons, Charles and Jerry. 

In 2002, Luther and Mary, who were then in their 80s, executed wills prepared by their attorney, James Clyde Morris, Jr., leaving everything to the surviving spouse, and if there was no surviving spouse, to their two sons equally. Mary suffered from Alzheimersrelated dementia and other ailments, and by 2006, Luther could no longer care for her on his own. Charles moved in with his parents in January 2006, and for the first part of that year, Jerry and his wife stayed with Luther some weekends to alleviate the burden on Charles. Over the course of 2006, Luther and Mary added Charles’s name to all their bank accounts so that he could manage their financial affairs for them.

Luther exhibited several common signs of dementia. After Mary died, Jerry and his wife encouraged Charles and his wife to take a much-needed vacation to Florida. Before leaving, Charles drove Luther to several banks to remove Mary’s name from joint accounts worth several hundred thousand dollars. Charles also closed an account at Regions Bank worth approximately $32,000 that had been held jointly in his and Mary’s names and transferred the funds into a new account in his name only. This was in accordance with Mary’s wishes to provide for her and Luther’s funerals. 

Jerry and his wife believed that Charles had stolen from Luther the roughly $600,000 they estimated was held in the joint bank accounts by having his name added to the accounts. They convinced Luther that Charles had stolen all his money, that he was now “broke,” and that Charles and his wife had moved to Florida and were not coming back. Luther was confused and distraught, and he repeated these claims to other relatives. 

Jerry and his wife drove Luther to the banks, where he removed Charles’s name from all the joint accounts. Jerry changed the locks on Luther’s house. Jerry also had Morris draft a new will in which Luther left all of his assets to Jerry other than 10 percent to his granddaughter and 1 percent to his grandson. Charles was not included in the will. Jerry and his wife moved Luther into the basement of their home in December 2007, where he lived until his death in June 2009. Charles was not allowed to visit Luther without first making an appointment with Jerry, and Jerry told Charles that he was recording the visits. 

After Luther’s death, Jerry filed a petition to probate the 2007 will, and Charles objected. The probate court found that the 2007 will was not valid on the grounds of undue influence and fraud, and Jerry appealed. Should the appellate court enforce the 2007 will or was it the product of undue influence or fraud? What factors should the focus upon in making its decision?