Iranian shipping businessman left $3.2 million to eldest daughter; Maryland court reopens inheritance battle after sisters challenge trust

An inheritance dispute over nearly $3.2 million in US assets left by an Iranian shipping businessman has returned to court after a Maryland appeals court overturned a jury's decision in favour of his eldest daughter. The case centres on whether Seyedkazem Amini-Nejad, who died in 2023 at the age of 95, understood the estate documents that left his American assets exclusively to one of his three daughters. In a ruling dated October 28, 2026, the Appellate Court of Maryland said the jury had been given an incorrect legal standard when considering the younger daughters' claim that their sister deliberately interfered with their expected inheritance.Amini-Nejad had spent most of his life in Iran, where he co-owned a shipping company with two business partners. He travelled to the United States to visit his family and receive medical treatment. All three of his daughters lived in the US, and the eldest, Ellahe Amini-Nejad, had been involved in managing his finances and accompanying him to medical and legal appointments during his visits.The dispute arose from estate-planning documents signed during a visit to the US in March 2019. On March 22 that year, Amini-Nejad signed a will stating that his cash, liquid assets, stocks, shares, bank accounts, life insurance policies and retirement benefits should go to Ellahe.