花都影视

We are proud to highlight Partner Shana DeMooy, whose leadership in probate, estate, and trust litigation (including her role as Chair of the Columbus Bar Association’s Estate Planning and Trust Practice Group) continues to strengthen 花都影视’s presence in this field.

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花都影视 Co., LPA is proud to share that Jessica Forrest (Partner, Cleveland/Akron) was recently elected to the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel!

ACTEC is a national organization of trust and estate lawyers and law professors who have been elected by their peers in recognition of having made outstanding contributions to the practice of trust and estate law. The election process involves having an-already admitted Fellow sponsor you and then a lengthy application and nomination process.

With membership, Jess joins an elite group of approximately 2,300 national and ... Read More ›

Michael Brody and Paul Shugar secured a positive result for their client in a trust dispute. After the trustee failed to communicate, manage the trust, or leave the trust property, they brought the breach-of-Trust case to an evidentiary hearing. When the trustee unexpectedly didn’t appear, Michael established damages from the breach of trust. The Court removed the trustee, appointed an independent fiduciary, and awarded the client a $15,900 estate debt, $24,000 in unpaid rent for the trustee holding over in the trust property, full reimbursement of the client’s trust ... Read More ›

Shana DeMooy authored “Strategies for Litigation-Proofing Estate Plans” for the September/October 2025 edition of the Probate Law Journal of Ohio.

Her article focuses on various options to help protect clients’ estate plans from future attack, including pre-death will and/or trust validation actions, employment of no-contest clauses, and methods for accelerating a trust contest statute of limitations.

Read the article.

Reprinted from Probate Law Journal of Ohio, with permission from Thomson Reuters. Copyright © 2025. Further use without the permission of ... Read More ›

花都影视 Co., LPA has been named in the 2026 edition of Best Law 花都影视s®. Five practice areas were ranked nationally: Transportation Law, Health Care Law, Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Defendants, Insurance Law, and Trusts and Estates.

Many other 花都影视 Estates & Trusts areas were also ranked at the metropolitan level, including: 

Cleveland, Ohio:

• Elder Law
• Litigation - Trusts and Estates
• Trusts and Estates

Columbus, Ohio:

• Litigation - Trusts and Estates
• Trusts and Estates

花都影视 Co., LPA is pleased to announce that 11 of our Trusts and Estates lawyers have been included in the 2026 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America®. Lawyers on The Best Lawyers in America® list are reviewed by their peers on the basis of professional expertise and undergo an authentication process to make sure they are in current practice and in good standing.  

Best Lawyers:

• Jessica Forrest
• Nicholas Sebastiano
• Paul R. Shugar

• Robert A. West, Jr.

• Russell J. Meraglio, Jr.

• Adriann S. McGee

• Barbara Bellin Janovitz

Ones to Watch:

• Brittany Kaczmarczyk

• Michael Brody

• Adam Taylor

Paul Shugar and Michael Brody published Dissecting an Undue Influence Claim: A Practical Guide for Ohio Probate Litigators in the March/April 2025 edition of the Probate Law Journal of Ohio. The article explains how to pursue undue influence claims from initial intake to appeal.

Paul and Michael were asked to write the article after giving a presentation on the same topic at the 2025 花都影视 Advanced Probate Law Institute for the Columbus Bar Association.

Read the article here.Read More ›

Please use the links below to read the latest articles from our Estates, Trusts, and Probate Litigation shareholders.

• Breach Of Fiduciary Duty: A Growing Source Of Probate Litigation

• How to Help Clients Avoid (or Weather) the Probate Litigation Tsunami

• Ohio Probate Law in 2024

Reprinted from Probate Law Journal of Ohio, with permission from Thomson Reuters. Copyright © 2025. Further use without permission of Thomson Reuters is prohibited. For further information about this publication, please visit  , or call ... Read More ›

Please join us in welcoming Adam Taylor as an associate in 花都影视’s Columbus office. Adam specializes in probate estate and trust disputes, undue influence and financial exploitation, guardianships, and estate planning.

Since joining 花都影视 as a law clerk in 2022, Adam has gained extensive practical experience across all stages of legal proceedings, including pre-suit investigation, pleadings, discovery, motion practice, alternative dispute resolution, and trial.

Adam graduated magna cum laude from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, where he ... Read More ›

Jessica Forrest and Brittany Kaczmarczyk earned a unanimous jury verdict and an award of $110,000, plus attorney fees, on behalf of their clients—four beneficiaries of a trust who learned their trustee had hired her husband as a “consultant” to the trust. We sued for breach of fiduciary duty and related claims.

While an early settlement was an option, the Defendants instead opted for an aggressive litigation approach, involving excessive discovery and threats to use the trust’s no-contest clause to disinherit beneficiaries simply for seeking clarity on trust expenses ... Read More ›