PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Exploring the Value of Qualified Default Investment Alternatives
Legal Alert | DOL Opens ESG Door: What Does It Mean for Plan Fiduciaries?
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - What Constitutes Plan Assets Under ERISA?
Corporate Fiduciaries Holding Cryptocurrency - Digital Planning Podcast
Legislation Discussion with PA State Senator Tom Killion
Discussion of PA’s Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act
When hostilities break out between individual co-trustees, incumbent trust counsel faces a representation conundrum. In §8.8 of Loring and Rounds: A Trustee’s Handbook (2025), see appendix below, we grapple with the...more
While PC software programs are a practical improvement over the trustee’s hard-copy ledger book, when it comes to keeping track of trust income and principal these programs still require serious clerical monitoring on the...more
The Spotlight strives to provide a forum to discuss the latest news and compelling issues impacting fiduciaries and those to whom fiduciaries owe duties. Whether you are an officer, director, trustee, beneficiary, trust...more
Mary Goodblood grew up believing that she was Cash Goodblood’s only daughter. Twenty-five years after he died, her dad’s brother Uncle Trusty sold the Goodblood family business for a tidy sum. After report of the lucrative...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
In the last alert, we reviewed the responsibilities of an executor. In this next introductory review, we will discuss the role of a trustee. Before we define the role of a trustee, we must explain the definition of a...more
In Austin Trust Co. v. Houren, beneficiaries of a trust executed a family settlement agreement with the former trustee’s estate. No. 21-0355, 2023 Tex. LEXIS 285 (Tex. March 23, 2023)....more
Fiduciaries sometimes find themselves in the unenviable position of facing conflict, whether with or among beneficiaries. In this article we offer some tips for preventing and managing conflicts and approaching the...more
On March 10, 2022, the Department of Labor published Compliance Assistance Release 2022-01, 401(k) Plan Investments in “Cryptocurrencies”. The Release strongly discourages the addition of cryptocurrency (and other digital...more
David Johnson presented his paper entitled “Fiduciary Litigation Update 2020-2021” to the Texas Bankers Association’s Wealth Management & Trust Conference on September 30, 2021. This presentation covered recent statutory...more
Acquiring a “fiduciary” title comes with special obligations. But while all fiduciaries share a high-level similarity—a duty to someone else—the duties of a fiduciary can vary widely from one context to another. Some of the...more
Even a court order approving an accounting may not protect a California fiduciary if the accounting is inaccurate. That’s the upshot of Hudson v. Foster (2021) ___ Cal.App.5th ___, a recent California Court of Appeal decision...more
Zachary Young is a private professional fiduciary with CMY Fiduciary Services in Sacramento. His mother, Carolyn M. Young, began work as a fiduciary in 1986. Zach received his bachelor’s degree in business and communications...more
In a recent opinion, the South Dakota Supreme Court held that trust beneficiaries lacked standing to bring claims against a third party on behalf of the trust. In so holding, the court explained that trustees typically are...more
In Marshall v. Marshall, a beneficiary sued the original trustee and five co-trustees of two trusts regarding claims that they breached fiduciary duties. No. 14-17-00930-CV, 2021 Tex. App. LEXIS 1949 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th...more
This presentation will cover Texas cases dealing with fiduciary issues over the survey period. Some of the issues involve the removal of a trustee, the resignation of a trustee, the production of confidential 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
David F. Johnson, lead writer for the Texas Fiduciary Litigator blog, discusses Texas fiduciary litigation case law and addresses issues such as merger of trusts, Gun Trusts, statute of limitations, quasi-estoppel,...more