Barounis v. Barounis, et al. (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-081-15)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA, 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us 13-P-1270 Appeals Court ANNA BAROUNIS vs. FOTIOS BAROUNIS & another[1] (and a companion case[2]). No. 13-P-1270. Norfolk. October 8, 2014. – July 30, 2015. Present: Green, Rubin, & Agnes, JJ. Will, Allowance, Construction, Undue influence. Petitions for probate of a will filed in the Norfolk Division of the Probate and Family Court Department on September 21, 2009, and February 1, 2010. The cases were heard by George F. Phelan, J. Susan E. Stenger for Anna Barounis. Thomas Frisardi (Kendra Kinscherf with him) for Fotios Barounis & another. RUBIN, J. Before us are cross appeals from two will contests, involving purported wills of the decedent Antonios Barounis (Antonios).[3] Antonios was married to Lambrini Barounis (Lambrini), who predeceased him; they (collectively, the parents) had three children, Anna Barounis (Anna), Fotios Barounis (Fotios) and Katherine Zosherafatain (Katherine). Anna filed a petition to probate Antonios’s will of November 21, 2003 (the 2003 will). Nine months later, Antonios’s other two heirs, Fotios and Katherine, filed a petition to probate Antonios’s will of April 14, 2004 (the 2004 will). After trial, the judge issued forty-five pages of findings of fact, conclusions of law, and rationale in support of his judgment with respect to the 2003 will, and subsequently the judge issued findings in support of his judgment on the 2004 will. 1. Background. In the decade prior to his death, Antonios signed three conflicting estate plans that bear little resemblance to each other. The trial judge’s opinion describes in detail the lengthy and unfortunate factual history behind this case. We recount his relevant findings. a. The 1998 will. For nearly twenty years leading up to 1996, varying combinations of Antonios, his wife Lambrini, and each of their three children helped to operate a market on property Antonios owned at 532 Tremont Street in Boston, Massachusetts. The parents retired to Greece in 1996, entering into a ten-year lease for the market with a third party. Katherine managed the market from 1996 through 2002, dealing with financial matters and arranging for minor renovations to the market. Antonios gave her a power of attorney in 1998. During 1998 Anna, with her husband, lived in Greece, as did her parents; her siblings were in the United States. Antonios shared the same accountant, Angelo Noukas, with Fotios and Katherine. Apparently in early […]