Justia Trusts & Estates Opinion Summaries

Plaintiffs claimed they were lured into making investments from which their money was “appropriated” and sued Nathan and Vertical Group. The district court entered an order of default against Vertical, but did not award damages at that time. Nathan filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The district court closed the matter during the bankruptcy. Nathan proposed a Chapter 11 plan. The plaintiffs objected and brought an adversary proceeding, restating their allegations and asserting that their claims were non-dischargeable. The bankruptcy court agreed, rejected Nathan’s plan, awarded actual and punitive damages, and determined that Nathan’s bankruptcy estate acquired his interest in the Kathleen Trust, into which Nathan and his wife had transferred assets before his bankruptcy, but did not identify a specific value of Nathan’s interest. The court converted Nathan’s bankruptcy to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The trustee tried to reach Trust assets. The court concluded that Nathan’s powers as a co-trustee were property of his bankruptcy estate, but Nathan lacked authority to act as trustee without Kathleen’s consent and only Kathleen could revoke the trust. Plaintiffs reopened the original action to determine damages and to collect the Vertical judgment from Trust assets. The district court referred the matter to the bankruptcy court, which recommended awarding actual damages, punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees in the amount awarded in the bankruptcy adversary proceeding. The district court adopted the findings and entered a default judgment against Vertical. The Eighth Circuit dismissed Nathan’s appeal for lack of standing and affirmed as to Kathleen. View "Cutcliff v. Reuter" on Justia Law

Joseph Schmidt executed the will at issue in this case on July 20, 2010. Schmidt was a disabled Marine Corps veteran who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia with delusions since the early 1970's; he also had vision and hearing difficulties. He was treated as a disabled veteran and received disability benefits from the Veterans Administration (“VA”) until his death in 2013. He was appointed a VA guardian and conservator in 1974. Dale Groenenboom was appointed as successor guardian of Schmidt’s person and property in 1976, and served in such capacity until Schmidt’s death. In 1997, Schmidt entered into the personal care home owned and operated by Charles Reeves. Jr. and his wife, Jerry, and he resided there the remainder of his life. The Reeveses were compensated monthly for their services. The Will named Groenenboom as executor and the Reeveses and Groenenboom as the beneficiaries. In the Will, Judith Webb, Schmidt’s twin sister and sole named heir at law, was expressly excluded from inheriting from Schmidt’s estate. Groenenboom filed the petition to probate the Will. Webb filed a motion to deny the Petition and the accompanying Settlement, as well as an objection and caveat to them, contending that Groenenboom and the Reeveses breached their fiduciary duties owed to Schmidt; that they committed fraud against Schmidt and the probate court; that Schmidt was unduly influenced by them within the meaning of OCGA 53-4-12; and that Schmidt lacked testamentary capacity at the time the Will was executed. The probate court entered a final order dismissing the Petition, finding that Groenenboom did not “make out a prima facie case” to admit the Will to probate in that Groenenboom “failed to produce the subscribing witness [to the Will] for examination at the hearing despite the fact that they were neither shown to be deceased or inaccessible.” After review, the Supreme Court found the Will had a self-proving affidavit, so it could have been admitted into probate without testimony of the subscribing witnesses or other proof for the purpose of showing that the formalities of execution were met. The probate court was reversed and the case remanded for further proceedings. View "Reeves v. Webb" on Justia Law

Lillian and Jimmie Lee Johnson were married for 37 years, and together, raised her grandniece, Jessica Rogers. In 2005, Ms. Johnson made a will that included a number of bequests to Rogers. Ms. Johnson died in 2011, and Mr. Johnson then sought to probate her will. Rogers filed a caveat, asserting that she had been adopted by Ms. Johnson after the will was made, which would entitle her to an intestate share of the estate Although Rogers was unable to point to any statutory adoption by Ms. Johnson, she claimed nonetheless that she had been adopted pursuant to the equitable doctrine of “virtual adoption.” The probate court agreed that Rogers was “virtually adopted” by Ms. Johnson after she made her will, and so, the probate court admitted the will to probate, but subject to Rogers taking an intestate share of the estate. Mr. Johnson appealed, arguing the doctrine of virtual adoption had no application in a case in which the decedent disposed of her entire estate by will. The Supreme Court agreed, and for that reason, affirmed the admission of the will to probate, but reversed that part of the judgment holding Rogers was entitled to an intestate share. View "Johnson v. Rogers" on Justia Law

Appellant Lori Davis, individually and as personal representative of the estate of her husband Keith L. Davis, M.D., appealed three superior court orders dated March 7, 2014, April 1, 2014, and April 21, 2014, which granted mandatory interlocutory injunctions against her and held her in civil and criminal contempt in an action brought against her husband’s estate by Steven M. Roth, M.D. and two Georgia limited liability companies Roth co-owned with Keith Davis. The plaintiffs filed suit against appellant and the Davis Estate seeking to enforce certain provisions of the companies’ operating agreements giving Roth, as the surviving member of the LLCs, an option to purchase Davis’ interests, and to otherwise establish the rights of the parties, including the ownership of certain trademarks. Appellant also appeals an April 21, 2014 order where the trial court adopted the Third Report of the Special Master and limited discovery in the pending case. Appellees, VCP South, LLC, VCP Raleigh, LLC and Mary Anne Roth, individually and as Executrix of the Estate of Steven M. Roth, M.D. cross-appealed, alleging the trial court erred in allowing the Davis Estate to maintain an ownership interest in the LLCs past the time provided for in the operating agreements, and in allowing the distribution of LLC profits accruing after Davis’ death to the Davis Estate. After careful consideration of the parties' arguments on both the appeal and cross-appeal, and finding no reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed the superior court's orders. View "Davis v. VCP South, LLC" on Justia Law

Plaintiff and Judy Hoffman were divorced in 1994. Judy died intestate in 2007, and Plaintiff was named personal representative of her estate. Defendant, an attorney and Judy’s friend, was the beneficiary of two of Judy’s life insurance policies and her retirement account and received $236,024 from these accounts. Plaintiff brought an action against Defendant alleging breach of fiduciary duty arising out of the attorney-client relationship, breach of fiduciary duty arising out of the duty of a trustee, and conversion. The district court found for Defendant and dismissed Plaintiff’s claims. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the district court did not err in (1) determining that an express trust needed to be created in order to find Defendant liable and in placing the burden to prove such trust on Plaintiff; (2) failing to impose a constructive trust on the insurance proceeds; (3) failing to find that Defendant deviated from the standard of care and committed legal malpractice by accepting and retaining Judy’s death benefit funds given his status as her attorney; and (4) admitting into evidence a photocopy of a note purportedly given from Judy to Defendant. View "Gallner v. Larson" on Justia Law

After Elda Coborn died intestate, Appellants, Coborn’s daughters, filed an application for a summary decree of distribution in Laramie County, Wyoming. The district court granted the application in part, distributing the personal property and real property located in Laramie County, but denied the application with regard to the mineral interests in Campbell and Johnson Counties based on its determination that it lacked the authority to order summary distribution of the decedent’s real property interests located in counties other than Laramie County. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that Wyo. Stat. Ann. 2-1-205 did not require Appellants to file a petition for summary distribution in every county in which the decedent’s property was located. View "In re Estate of Coborn" on Justia Law

Delbert Deutsch died in 2012. Deutsch’s widow, Marcelina, and her son found a copy of a 2011 will on top of Delbert’s desk but, after a careful and exhaustive search, could not find an original will. Delbert’s nephews filed a petition for formal probate of the copy of the will and for determination of heirs. After a trial, the circuit court concluded that the lost will was not revoked by Delbert and admitted the copy of the will to probate. Marcelina appealed, arguing that the circuit court erred by admitting the copy of the will to probate. The nephews also appealed, contending that the court erred by denying their request for reimbursement of attorney’s fees. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the circuit court (1) did not clearly err in determining that the will had not been revoked; and (2) did not abuse its discretion in denying the nephews’ petition for attorney’s fees. View "In re Estate of Deutsch" on Justia Law

Wallace B. Flint established a detailed estate plan in his Last Will and Testament that created a testamentary trust that would receive as its corpus the residue of his estate (the Trust). Flint’s daughter, Katherine, was an income beneficiary of the Trust. Katherine filed a petition seeking (1) to modify the terms of the Trust by rewriting its administrative provisions, thus converting the Trust from a traditional, trustee-managed structure into a directed trust where the trustee would serve only an administrative role; and (2) to modify a previous order regarding the law governing the Trust that would create a contingent choice of law provision in which Delaware law would govern all issues of administration unless it would or might create adverse tax affects, in which case New York law - the law that originally governed the Trust under Flint’s estate plan - would spring back into effect. The Court of Chancery denied both requests, holding (1) Katherine’s petition sought to modify the Will in a manner that conflicted with Flint’s intent; and (2) the proposed provision of the petition seeking an order providing that Delaware law will govern the administration of the trust under certain circumstances contained language that was too vague and uncertain to be implemented. View "In re Trust Under Will of Flint" on Justia Law

Vlada Abraitis, the mother of Sarunas Abraitis, died in 2008. Vlada’s will named Sarunas as the executor of the estate. Sarunas applied to admit his mother’s will, executed in 1978, to probate, and the matter was assigned to Judge Laura Gallagher. Sarunas’s brother, Vytautas, died in 2013 while the estate was being administered. Vytautus’s former wife, Vivian, was named as the personal representative of his estate. In 2014, Vivian filed the underlying complaint to contest a will that Vlada executed in 1993. Vlada also sought a declaratory judgment that a certain survivorship deed was invalid and that the property transferred by the deed belonged in Vlada’s estate. This action was also assigned to Judge Gallagher. Sarunas filed the complaint in this case seeking a writ of prohibition, asserting that Vivian lacked standing to bring the action. Sarunas also sought a writ to prohibit Judge Gallagher from proceeding in the action. The court of appeals dismissed the complaint. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) Vivian had a potential interest in Vlada’s estate and was therefore a “person interested” who may bring the combined will-contest and declaratory-judgment action; and (2) therefore, Judge Gallagher had jurisdiction to proceed in the underlying action. View "State ex rel. Abraitis v. Gallagher" on Justia Law

Respondent-trustee Bonnie Katzenstein, representing the Feinberg Family Trust (dated October 30, 1984), filed a petition after Rober Feinberg had passed away. Mr. Feinberg was the cosettlor and former cotrustee of the Trust and the named insured in two life insurance policies. In the Petition, the Trustee sought: (1) a determination that the Trust is the beneficiary of, and therefore entitled to the proceeds from, one of the insurance policies; and (2) damages against Chabad of Poway (Chabad) for interfering with the payment of that policy's benefits to the Trust. Chabad responded by filing a document entitled "Claimant's Objection and Counter Claim [sic] to Petition filed by Trustee to Determine Ownership of Life Insurance Policy Proceeds" (Objection and Counterclaim). In an unsigned minute order following summary judgment proceedings initiated by Trustee, the court sua sponte struck Chabad's Objection and Counterclaim on the basis that the Code of Civil Procedure precluded a party from seeking affirmative relief in an answer. Chabad appealed. The Court of Appeal found that the unsigned minute order was not an appealable order under either the Code of Civil Procedure or the Probate Code. As such, the Court lacked jurisdiction to hear Chabad's appeal, and dismissed it. View "Katzenstein v. Chabad of Poway" on Justia Law