Once Removed Episode 13: It’s 5 o’Clock: Do You Know Where Your Will Is? A Lesson From Aretha Franklin
SDNY Chooses “Time Approach” to Calculating Lease Termination Damages Collectible Against a Bankrupt Estate
Protecting Your Estate Plan from Challenges: No-Contest Clause Explained
Executors play a crucial role in managing and distributing an estate according to the wishes outlined in a will. But what happens when an executor steps outside their duties or abuses their power?...more
What you need to know before appointing an executor under your Will - Appointing the right executor is one of the most important decisions when preparing a Will. Executors play a central role in the administration of an...more
A longstanding and critical incident of a trustee’s fiduciary duty of loyalty is the duty to vigorously defend the trust’s very existence, as well as all its material provisions (hereinafter “existence defense”), unless it...more
This update will address the following issues: whether a party has a right to jury trial in trust modification and other similar actions, what are the standards for pretrial receivership and injunctive relief in trust...more
This newsletter is intended to keep readers informed about developments in probate and fiduciary litigation in Massachusetts and New York. Our lawyers are at the forefront of this area of the law, shaping how it is handled in...more
No, according to In re Estate of Elze D. Harris, Docket No. 362364 (September 28, 2023). In Estate of Harris, the decedent’s three children were embroiled in litigation over who should control their deceased father’s...more
This newsletter is intended to keep readers informed about developments in probate and fiduciary litigation in Massachusetts and New York. Intentional Interference and Unjust Enrichment Claims in Connection with a Trust...more
Following the untimely death last year of his father Big Daddy Bux due to COVID-19, brother Hustler Bux was appointed independent executor of Big Daddy’s Will. When Hustler asked for a judicial discharge, sister Kathy...more
Assailant's Spendthrift Trust Accessible to Child of Murdered Parents - de Prins v. Michaeles, SJC-12865 (October 20, 2020) - In de Prins v. Michaeles, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) tackled a trust...more
“The attorney client privilege, the oldest among common-law evidentiary privileges, fosters the open dialogue between lawyer and client that is deemed essential to effective representation” (Spectrum Sys. Intern. Corp. v...more
The Probate & Fiduciary Litigation Newsletter compiles recent Trust & Estate cases. Our lawyers are at the forefront of this area of the law, shaping how it is handled in the Probate and Family Court. Goulston & Storrs is the...more
In In re Estate of Poe, the son of a car dealership owner who was frozen out of control of the business by the dying father’s decision to issue new stock sued his father’s estate, trust, and officers of the business. No....more
Disinherited Son Loses Bid in New York to Share in Father’s Estate Based on Brother’s Promise - Matter of Estate of Fogel, No. 2006-1234/B (Kings Sur. April 10, 2019) - A disinherited son tried to make a claim on the...more
My colleagues have written on the enforceability of in terrorem clauses, and the courts continue to confront challenges in reconciling the testator’s intent to impose an in terrorem condition with the rights of beneficiaries...more
First, in Calhoun v. Rawlins, No. 17-P-40, 2018 WL 3131023 (Mass. App. Ct. June 27, 2018), the Appeals Court held that creditors could access a spendthrift trust that was created for a beneficiary with cognitive impairments...more
Although one of the many duties and responsibilities of an executor is to marshal and appraise estate assets, and, depending upon the dispositive terms of the governing instrument, liquidate them for purposes of distribution,...more
The attorney-client privilege is a cornerstone of the legal practice. The privilege protects the confidentiality of communications between a client and an attorney from disclosure to a third party when the communications are...more