Nonprofit Basics: Director Duties and Best Practices for the Typical Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation
Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 167: Listen and Learn -- Direct and Derivative Actions (Corporations)
Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 124: Listen and Learn -- Duty of Loyalty (Corporations)
Law School Toolbox Podcast Episode 282: Listen and Learn -- Duty of Loyalty (Corporations)
The law of trusts originated in equity to evade the constraints of common law; it was a part of property law in which one person held legal title to assets and another held equitable title. The person holding legal title...more
Trusts are valuable tools frequently used to transfer wealth within families, preserve and protect wealth, and reduce taxes. Despite their common use, many people have only a limited understanding of what a trust is or how...more
Maybe a friend or a relative has recently passed away and you just received a communication informing you that you have been named as a trustee. You have no idea what this role entails, and you feel overwhelmed having no...more
When does a California estate planning attorney owe a duty of care to people other than the client? Planners can breathe easier after a recent appellate ruling. The court clarified the limits on legal malpractice claims...more
In the most recent installment of the McGuireWoods Fiduciary Advisory Services annual multipart series on recent fiduciary cases, developments in the law concerning various topics are examined through the following: ...more
We wrote last July about a draft California ethics opinion regarding clients who may have diminished mental capacity. After receiving public comment, the State Bar’s Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and...more
David F. Johnson presented his paper “Litigating Self-Interested Transactions Involving Fiduciaries” to the State Bar of Texas’s Fiduciary Litigation Course on December 2-3, 2021, in San Antonio, Texas. This presentation...more
David F. Johnson presented his paper “Trustee Quandary: Criminal Activity By a Beneficiary With or On Trust Property,” to the Tarrant County Probate Bar Association on March 5, 2020. The presentation dealt with a trustee...more
In In re Topletz, the trial court ordered a party jailed for civil contempt for failing to comply with an order to produce documents from a family-run trust during post-judgment discovery in a suit against him individually...more
Can a California trustee require a beneficiary to sign a release in order to get a distribution from a trust? A question like this appeared recently on the AVVO “Free Q&A” page and makes for a perfect blog topic....more
In “The Farewell,” now out in theaters, family members choose not to tell the matriarch (“Nai Nai”) of her terminal lung cancer diagnosis. They use the pretext of a wedding to get the family together in China so that they can...more
The most important duty a trustee has is that of loyalty. The courts are particularly sensitive to this duty, and for good reason—the trust was created for the benefit of the beneficiaries. The duty of loyalty requires that a...more
Communication is Key. This may seem obvious, but good communication can go a long way in preventing a dispute. This includes timely responding to emails and voice messages...more
It is very difficult for a trustee to have conflicts of interest without breaching the duty of loyalty. We typically think of trustee conflicts as they relate to self-dealing by the trustee, which is almost always a problem...more