A court should not enforce a trust in terrorem clause if its enforcement under the particular facts and circumstances would frustrate settlor intent. Assuming that the settlor intended to impress a trust upon the property,...more
The Restatement (Third) of Trusts, specifically §104, lists four general areas in which the beneficiary’s actions may lead to an assumption of internal liability to the trust estate: (1) A loan or advance to the beneficiary...more
In a recent decision, the Court of Appeals of Virginia upheld a lower court’s ruling that Kositzka, Wicks and Company (KWC) breached its fiduciary duty to Edward Joseph Ryan, awarding his estate $999,050 in damages, attorney...more
Assume sole trustee of an irrevocable discretionary trust for benefit of deceased settlor’s descendants living from time to time suffers a sudden unforeseen mental disability that causes trustee to imprudently administer the...more
Many of my prior JDSUPRA postings caution that codification of the law of trusts, such as the Uniform Trust Code (UTC), are only partial codifications. See the catalogue of my prior postings below. There is much prevailing...more
Equity’s maxims have many jurisprudential functions, one critical function being to sinew the equitable principles that regulate the law of trusts. A court that is saddled with sorting out the rights, duties and obligations...more
Robert Lindley and Wesley O’Brien provide a step-by-step guide to dealing with missing or uncooperative beneficiaries - It will be important for the trustee to be capable of demonstrating that it has made sufficient...more
When attorneys advise errant trustees, how vulnerable are they to breach of trust claims by injured beneficiaries? A case published last week by the California Court of Appeal provides a defensive roadmap to attorneys who are...more
The attorney-client privilege in California belongs to the office of trustee, not to the incumbent in that office, thus generally allowing successor trustees to obtain confidential communications that their predecessors had...more