As the landscape of HNW disputes remains increasingly complex — with cross-border disputes, challenges with tracing and valuating digital assets, contentious trusts, and privacy concerns playing larger roles — ACI's Inaugural...more
Intro. The Uniform Trust Code (UTC) is a mere aggregation of tweaks to the corner of equity jurisprudence that long ago gave birth to and currently stewards the trust relationship, hereinafter “the background trust law.”...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
Assume the deceased settlor of a trust had intended that his niece be included in the beneficiary class, but his estate-planning attorney had negligently made no provision for her in the governing instrument. After settlor’s...more
Irrevocable trusts can be effective for estate planning, but they can also create problems. This blog post will draw lessons from the case of Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire owner of Fox News and News Corporation, who is...more
Unknown to many Floridians, Florida enacted the Community Property Trust Act which went into effect on July 1, 2021, and established the ability to convert non-community property into community property. The community...more
In 1998, Elizabeth died leaving a will that contained a trust for the benefit of her niece, Jean, for her life. Upon Jean’s death, the remaining trust assets were to pass to her other niece, Dorothy. Both Jean and Dorothy...more
A person communicates a desire to make estate planning changes in the future but dies before the changes are made. Can a court modify or reform a trust to give effect to this intent? No. In re Brody Trust, Docket No 362214...more
Mary Goodblood grew up believing that she was the only daughter of Cash Goodblood. One day, 25 years after Cash died, and to no one’s surprise after the lucrative sale of the Goodblood family business was plastered on the...more
It has become more common for trustors to select someone who is not a beneficiary of the trust estate, often a close relative, to serve as trustee. While the “crown” of trusteeship imbues that trustee with tempting powers –...more
This blog has devoted a lot of real estate to the use of anti-SLAPP motions in California trust and estate litigation. Though the courts’ treatment of such motions is varied and oftentimes unpredictable, Californians can...more
Recently, there seems to be some confusion regarding section 643(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), and its application to trusts. Indeed, that provision—particularly to those not well-versed in...more
The idea of a visit to an attorney for your estate planning can be daunting. Below is a list of to-do items or at least items to think about before your visit. MAKE A LIST OF YOUR ASSETS AND AN ESTIMATED VALUE OF THE...more
Losing a family member or friend is a difficult situation for everyone. In 1969, the Swiss-American psychiatrist Elizabeth Kübler-Ross wrote in her book “On Death and Dying,” that grief could be divided into five stages:...more
“It is only when the tide goes out that you learn who has been swimming naked”. This quote – usually attributed to Warren Buffett – resurfaces when economic conditions worsen, but what does it mean? In the context of the...more
For so many of us, pets are part of the family. Everywhere you go, people bring their dogs along these days; and many pets, such as birds and tortoises, have long life spans. ...more
When it comes to handling your loved one’s estate, the executor has a series of important duties and responsibilities. If you suspect an executor is mishandling their responsibilities or mismanaging estate assets, you can...more
The Court of Appeal ruled that losing proprietary rights under foreign law could invalidate personal claims against third party recipients of trust assets. On 27 January 2022, the UK Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed...more
If you aren’t quite sure about the difference between trespass to try title and suit to quiet title, Lockhart as Tr. of Lockhart Fam. Bypass Tr. v. Chisos Mins., LLC explains. ...more
Beneficiaries often request that a trustee make them a loan from trust property. In an economic downturn, such requests are even more prevalent. As a general rule, a trustee should not want to make a loan to a beneficiary as...more
By their very nature, special needs trusts (SNTs) are usually designed to terminate, or at least radically change, when the trust's primary beneficiary dies. But terminating a special needs trust is not as simple as merely...more
Beneficiaries often request that a trustee secure a loan from a third party. In an economic downturn, such requests are even more prevalent. As a general rule, a trustee should not want to do so as it should assume that the...more
This presentation will address beneficiaries requesting loans from trustees. There are multiple issues that arise regarding the trustee’s authority to do so under the trust’s language and statutory and common law, and the...more
Many of us love to make New Year’s resolutions – with a fresh, clean calendar laid out before us, the possibilities seem endless! But that vast expanse of “what might be” can also be overwhelming. So, if estate planning is on...more
Trustees are often granted the power to distribute trust property “in the Trustee’s discretion” for a beneficiary’s “general well-being,” “best interests,” “comfort,” or, most commonly, “health, education, maintenance and...more