Overview

Probate disputes; trust and will contests (undue influence, competency, fraud); breach of fiduciary duty claims; removal actions; contested accountings; reformation and interpretation actions; trust and estate property disputes; tax disputes; and guardianship and conservatorship proceedings. Clients look to Mark Swirbalus to handle and solve these kinds of matters, and to avoid litigation in the first place. Mark is a Director in our probate litigation group, where he represents individuals, charitable organizations and bank and trust companies as beneficiaries, trustees, executors, administrators and personal representatives. A Chambers USA resource comments that Mark is "smart, and has an excellent knowledge of trust matters. He had a plan from day one to address our concerns."

Mark has served as Co-Chairman of the Fiduciary Litigation Committee of the Boston Bar Association and as a member of the Probate Law Section Council of the Massachusetts Bar Association. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and has been appointed to its Fiduciary Litigation Committee. His work has been recognized by his peers with his being named a Massachusetts Super Lawyer and with an “AV Preeminent” rating by Martindale Hubbell. He is also nationally ranked as a leading litigator by Chambers USA.

Representative Experience

• Representation of charity in action to enforce its rights under a charitable bequest.
• Representation of family members in will contest alleging undue influence, lack of testamentary capacity and fraud.
• Representation of widow in defense of death-bed property conveyance.
• Representation of proposed interveners in action regarding the oldest charitable trust in the country (c. 1660).
• Representation of trustees and primary beneficiary in action against predecessor trustees for self-dealing and other breaches of fiduciary duty.