Appellate Division Discusses Procedural Standards for Pleading Undue Influence
In re Estate of Olga Kolbik, Docket No. A-0782-24, 2026 WL 81510 (N.J. Super. App. Div. Jan. 12, 2026)
In this matter concerning the Estate of Olga Kolbik, the Appellate Division vacated a Chancery Division judgment invalidating a 2016 will on undue influence grounds and remanded for a new trial before a different judge. The decedent’s 2016 will disinherited one daughter (Larisa) and left the estate to the other (Sofia), citing lifetime benefits Larisa had already received. Although Larisa’s complaint challenged execution, the trial court sua sponte relied on undue influence to invalidate the will and probate an earlier 2002 will, which divided the estate equally between the two siblings.
The Appellate Division held that undue influence was never pled with the heightened particularity required by R. 4:5-8, depriving Sofia of notice, discovery, and a fair opportunity to defend. Raising the issue in interrogatories or a trial brief was insufficient, and the resulting burden-shifting violated basic due process. The court further found the trial judge’s factual findings inadequate to establish either a confidential relationship or suspicious circumstances, emphasizing that a parent-child relationship, caregiving, or estrangement, without more, does not justify a presumption of undue influence.
Finally, the panel held the trial court misapplied the law as to both the analysis of “suspicious circumstances” and the applicable burden of proof required to rebut a presumption of undue influence. Where burden-shifting applies, the proper standard is proof by a preponderance of the evidence, absent an articulated basis for imposing the heavier clear and convincing standard. Because of these combined errors, and given the trial court’s credibility findings, the matter was remanded for a new trial before a different judge.