John j Pankauski

More About John j Pankauski

Mr. Pankauski is the Firm’s Managing Member and a Senior Trial Attorney. He is rated AV®Preeminent by independent legal authority Martindale Hubbell. Mr. Pankauski’s AV®Preeminent ranking is the highest rating available and means that his peers, lawyers, and judges rank him at the top for professional excellence based on legal knowledge, analytical capabilities, judgment, communications, and legal experience. He has been selected as one of South Florida’s “Top Lawyers” in the field of trusts & estates (Legal Leaders, 2015). 

Mr. Pankauski was also selected as a “Super Lawyer” in 2022 by his peers. He spends most of his time in the courtroom trying cases and in evidentiary hearings. When he is not in the court room, he devotes considerable time to detailed trial preparation & intense litigation strategy, including high-level, high-dollar negotiations on behalf of clients. His practice is restricted to “probate litigation”: disputes, controversies, litigation & lawsuits involving wills, trusts, estates, inheritances, and guardianships. 

His extensive experience involves litigating jewelry, joint bank accounts, lifetime gifts, family-owned businesses, real estate, inter-vivos transfers, Florida Homestead, beneficiary rights to trusts & estates, and rights of surviving spouses. 

Mr. Pankauski’s, and the firm’s, practice also includes defending Florida trustees and Personal Representatives of Palm Beach estates and advocating on behalf of family members and spouses in litigated family guardianships. Some of the legal issues in which he has been involved include: Palm Beach will contests, undue influence, lack of mental capacity, insane delusion, Dementia, rights of family members & heirs, tortious interference with an inheritance, a widow’s Florida elective share, validity and claims of prenuptial agreements, challenges to wills & trusts, investments, and Florida’s prudent investor rule. 

Mr. Pankauski has over 20 years of legal experience. He is a member of the Florida Bar’s Trial Lawyers Section and the Real Property, Probate, and Trust Law Section as well as the American Bar Association’s Real Property, Probate & Trust Law Section.