Wills, Trusts, & Estate Planning, Civil Remedies

Group Health Plan Can Enforce Reimbursement Rights Against Trustee

by Lori Oliphant | Winstead PC on 5/24/2013

On the heels of the United States Supreme Court’s recent holding in U.S. Airways v. McCutchen, where the Court held that a group health plan’s reimbursement rights are not automatically subject to equitable defenses, it...more

Today’s Take: Don’t Mess With Elders

by Rodney Lee | Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP on 5/21/2013

It is an unfortunate reality that as people get older, they become more and more susceptible to influence, abuse, and neglect. In fact, California has recognized that its elders are a disadvantaged class, that the cases of...more

Sanctions Are Issued Where Court Determines That Special Motion To Strike Was Filed For Improper Purpose

by David J. McMahon | Barger & Wolen on 5/15/2013

In Kleveland v. Siegel & Wolensky LLP, 2013 DAR 4961(2013) the California Courts of Appeal for the Fourth Appellate District affirmed the denial of a special motion to strike and the award of costs and attorney fees as...more

The Trust Being a Multi-Party Relationship, Whom Legal Counsel Represents Can Get Complicated

by Charles E. Rounds, Jr. on 5/1/2013

The trust being a multi-party relationship, it is not always that easy to discern at any given time whom legal counsel is representing, or should be representing, in matters relating to the trust’s creation and...more

Damages Pt. 13 – Sentimental Value in Personal Property

by Pavlack Law, LLC on 4/8/2013

This week we reopen our Damages series with a thirteenth installment to discuss the availability of sentimental value damages for the loss of items of personal property. We examine both the general rule that such damages are...more

ERISA Does Not Preempt State Court Order Requiring Beneficiary to Renounce Right to Employee’s Plan Benefits, Fourth Circuit Rules

by Katherine Lange | Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC on 3/20/2013

The scenario is not difficult to imagine: An employee designates her spouse as the primary beneficiary under her employer’s life insurance and retirement benefit plans. Years later, the couple divorces, and in the marital...more

Court Denies Attorneys' Fees in Herbalife Estate Case

by Peter Felsenfeld | Barger & Wolen on 3/8/2013

A San Francisco appeals court has rejected a law firm’s attempt to recover $3 million billed on a trust matter on the grounds that the work did not benefit the estate....more

New Jersey Estate Litigation: The Availability of Punitive Damages

by Christopher Massaro | Cole Schotz on 3/7/2013

In In re Stockdale, the New Jersey Supreme Court addressed the availability of punitive damages in estate disputes involving undue influence claims. 196 N.J. 275 (2008). ...more

Nowadays a Practicing Lawyer’s First Serious Exposure to Critical Unjust Enrichment Doctrine is Likely to be After Law School, Too...

by Charles E. Rounds, Jr. on 3/1/2013

This modified excerpt from Loring and Rounds: A Trustee’s Handbook (2013) is a primer on the wrong of Unjust Enrichment and its principal remedy, Restitution. Unjust enrichment doctrine is very much alive and well in the real...more

Trial lawyers beware of the in terrorem trust clause: A nasty trap that can keep on springing.

by Charles E. Rounds, Jr. on 1/1/2013

An “in terrorem” or “no-contest” clause in a trust instrument provides for the forfeiture or reduction of the equitable property interest of a beneficiary who contests the arrangement. In a recent New Hampshire case, Shelton,...more

Insurance Bad Faith Claims Involving a Decedent’s Estate: Pistalo v. Progressive

by Pavlack Law, LLC on 12/28/2012

This week's article focuses upon the recent Indiana Court of Appeals decision Pistalo v. Progressive in which the court held that a bad faith claim against an insurance company could progress even though the policy holder had...more

Are you entitled to support from an estate?

by Lerners LLP on 12/17/2012

Your father has just died. You are in school and your father was paying your tuition and some of your bills. You are shocked to find out that your father left you nothing under his will. What are your options? Perhaps...more

Rogers Towers: Using Contempt Power to Force Repatriation of Offshore Trust Assets

by Jacob J. Payne | Rogers Towers on 12/13/2012

Offshore asset protection trusts (OAPT) typically have the following characteristics: (1) the trust is governed by the laws of a foreign jurisdiction that does not recognize the judgments or orders of courts of the United...more

A New Tort Cause of Action in California Provides Limited Recourse to Protect Inheritances from Wrongdoers

by Carr, McClellan, Ingersoll, Thompson & Horn -... on 11/13/2012

In the 2012 elections, three states (Maine, Maryland, and Washington) legalized gay marriage, and one state (Minnesota) rejected a ballot measure that would have created a state constitutional amendment prohibiting gay...more

Interest Under Will Did Not Revert Back To Estate

by David Johnson | Winstead PC on 10/25/2012

In Roberts v. Wilson, the El Paso Court of Appeals ruled that the wife of a beneficiary under a will was entitled to her husband’s interest in real property because he survived his parents and the bequeath did not have a...more

Written Fee Agreement Is Not Required For Ordinary Probate Work

by Barger & Wolen on 9/19/2012

In Estate of Wong, 2012 DJDAR 8873 (2012), the California Court of Appeal for the First Appellate District decided an interesting attorney fee case dealing with the interplay of the Probate Code and Business and Professions...more

The trustee is not relieved of the duty to defend the trust just because the beneficiary happens to be getting divorced.

by Charles E. Rounds, Jr. on 9/1/2012

The trustee's primary allegiance is to the beneficiary, not to the non-beneficiary spouse or ex-spouse, unless the express terms of the trust provide otherwise. Thus, when there is marital discord, the trustee must suppress...more

Exceptions: The New Waiver Trap

by McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC on 7/19/2012

If a party is unhappy with the trial court's application of the law to the facts presented during an orphans' court matter, can the unhappy party bypass the exceptions process and go directly to the appellate courts?...more

An Order Compelling an Accounting is Not Appealable, Unless It Expressly or Implicitly Decides Other Issues That Could be the...

by Hopkins & Carley on 7/13/2012

“In probate court, nothing speaks more eloquently or provides more insight into factual and legal issues than an accounting.” Christie v. Kimball (2d Civil No. B230286, January 26, 2012). Under Probate Code...more

Some Important Bills To Watch Tomorrow

by Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis... on 7/2/2012

Tomorrow, the Assembly Judiciary Committee will hear several important bills that passed out of the Senate: - SB 323 (Vargas) - This bill would enact the California Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act to...more

Does a trust beneficiary incur any personal liability?

by Charles E. Rounds, Jr. on 7/1/2012

As a general rule, one assumes no personal liability when one becomes a trust beneficiary. There are some exceptions, however. Charles E. Rounds, Jr. explains in Section 5.6 of Loring and Rounds: A Trustee’s Handbook (2012)....more

Can the Language of a Will Prove Lack of Capacity?

by Sedgwick LLP on 6/22/2012

We complete our preview of the new civil review grants at the Illinois Supreme Court with DeHart v. DeHart [pdf], a will contest which raises a range of issues from how do you prove lack of testamentary capacity, to undue...more

Oliveira v. Kiesler: Attorneys and Non-Attorneys May Be Joint Tortfeasors For Purposes of Offsetting Judgment After Good Faith...

by Sedgwick LLP on 6/22/2012

The California Court of Appeal (Fourth Appellate District, Division 3) recently held that an attorney can be a joint tortfeasor with his or her client for purposes of California Code of Civil Procedure section 877. The...more

Too Late (Part 2): Can Your Fees Request Wait?

by Sedgwick LLP on 6/20/2012

Earlier today, we previewed Bjork v. O'Meara, a case about the perils of challenging a will too late. Now we preview a case about timing your claim for attorneys fees: Rodriquez v. Department of Financial and Professional...more

Shifren v. Spiro: Legal Malpractice Statute of Limitations Does Not Begin to Run Until Judgment or Settlement of Underlying Case...

by Sedgwick LLP on 6/13/2012

The California Court of Appeal (Second Appellate District, Division 3) reversed a trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a defendant law firm after concluding that the action was not time-barred by the running of...more

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Wills, Trusts, & Estate Planning › Civil Remedies