ROCKLAND, Maine — A two-day trial is scheduled for next month on the request of the daughter of a deceased Washington man who wants the Knox County Probate Court to remove the personal representative of her late father’s estate.
Cynthia MacPherson of Middleboro, Massachusetts, has asked the court to remove Kristen Redman as the personal representative of the estate of her late father, Robert Allen Hanson, who died July 20, 2025, at the age of 90. Hanson had lived in both Washington and Warren.
MacPherson hired a lawyer who filed a petition in August 2025 to remove Redman as the personal representative of her father’s estate. She has argued that the Searsmont woman used undue influence on him in the final months of his life to benefit herself.
Redman has said she did nothing wrong.
Probate Judge Carol Emery has scheduled a hearing on the motion on Nov. 17 and 18.
There is a medium probability of a settlement, according to Emery’s scheduling order.
The issues to be heard at the hearing are whether the will is valid, whether undue influence was involved, the disposition of the estate, the accounting of estate assets, and the final administration and distribution of the estate.
The daughter’s lawyer plans to call five witnesses and Redman’s lawyer plans to call six witnesses.
“The current Personal Representative used undue influence on Decedent (Hanson) to have herself named as Personal Representative. The Last Will and Testament was executed only 11 days prior to Decedent’s death and lists the Personal Representative and an acquaintance of hers as one-third beneficiaries of his estate, despite not knowing either of these individuals well. Upon information and belief, the current Personal Representative has mismanaged decedent’s assets under a power of attorney prior to decedent’s death and has acted in her self-interest to convey estate assets to herself knowing that her actions are not benefiting the estate,” stated the petition filed last year from attorney Catherine Gamache on behalf of the daughter.
Hanson’s estate is valued at up to $250,000, based on the filing fee in the estate file.
Hanson signed a document on Feb. 19, 2025, that gave Redman a limited power of attorney and to serve as his agent, according to a document filed in the Knox County Registry of Deeds. Hanson sold his home in Washington on April 4, 2025.
Hanson signed a will on July 9, 2025, that named Redman, MacPherson, and William Bernardo Jr. of Warren as equal beneficiaries of his estate.
MacPherson said in a telephone interview last year that she was unaware that her father had signed a power of attorney with anyone or named Redman to be the personal representative of his estate until after her father died. She questioned why Redman was in the will and also asked why Bernardo, who she said Redman had arranged to help with Hanson’s move, was named in the will. The daughter said Redman had her name put on Hanson’s bank accounts prior to his death.
Redman said she had no idea that she was included in Hanson’s will until after his death. She also denied having any role in Bernardo being named in the will.
Redman said she helped Hanson out after his wife died because the wife had always paid the bills. She said Hanson and his wife had taken out a home equity loan and Hanson had not been making payments. She helped him write the checks so that he would not lose the home.
What makes this matter more unusual is that Redman has been listed in two other wills to serve as personal representatives of estates for people who are not related to her.
When contacted last year by the Midcoast Villager, retired Register of Probate Elaine Hallett, who served in the office for 45 years, said she can not recall any instance in which a non-relative, who wasn’t an attorney, had been personal representative over more than one estate at a time. There is no legal prohibition on serving as personal representatives on multiple estates at the same time.
This story appears through a media partnership with Midcoast Villager.