Estate of Dahlke

After H. Kent Dahlke died in 2003, leaving a will he had executed in 2001, there were irregularities in the administration of Kent’s estate, including the probate court’s failure to advise Kent’s surviving wife, Sara Dahlke, of her statutory elective share, and the court’s failure to assure that Kent’s heirs waived a hearing on a decree of distribution. Sara later died. In 2011, five years after the decree of distribution of Kent’s estate was entered and its assets were distributed to the devisees, Sara’s daughter, Susan Jubie, acting as the personal representative of Kent’s estate, the personal representative of Sara’s estate, and individually, sought to set aside the decree of distribution of Kent’s estate. The district court declined to set the decree aside. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that although the probate process went awry in this case, the law governing finality of judgments required that the decree of dissolution stand.View "Estate of Dahlke" on Justia Law