Contested Estate Left to New Hampshire Officer Heads to Trial

A trial challenging the final will of a New Hampshire woman who left her estate to a Portsmouth police officer is set to begin in Superior Court.

Attorney David Eby says Sgt. Aaron Goodwin used his influence as an officer to force a wealthy 93-year-old woman to re-write her will and leave him more than $2 million. Eby contends Geraldine Webber was confused and suffering from dementia when she amended her will to benefit Goodwin.

The officer denies the allegations. Goodwin's defense says the officer "played an emotionally significant role" in Webber's life.

The trial gets underway Monday.

Foster's Daily Democrat reports that Eby represents the Shriners' Hospitals for Children and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Each were $500,000 beneficiaries under Webber's 2009 will, but became $50,000 beneficiaries under her revision.