In Bass v. Bogle, settlors, husband and wife, created a trust that owned the majority interest in a closely-held business, and they had two children. No. 03-23-00319-CV, 2024 Tex. App. LEXIS 5034 (Tex. App.—Austin July 18,...more
10/11/2024
/ Beneficiaries ,
Estate Planning ,
Guardianships ,
Power of Attorney ,
Reversal ,
Settlors ,
Spouses ,
Successors ,
Summary Judgment ,
Trustees ,
Trusts
In In re Estate of Wells, No. 12-23-00066-CV, 2023 Tex. App. LEXIS 8475 (Tex. App.—Tyler November 8, 2023, no pet. history). The testator left a will that created a trust for his wife and descendants, named his wife as the...more
In Castello v. Ex’r of the Est. of Castello, the decedent died leaving a will that left his property to his wife “for life” and then to his three children by a prior marriage. No 03-22-00012-CV 2023 Tex. App. LEXIS 4454 (Tex....more
10/3/2023
/ Affidavits ,
Appeals ,
Beneficiaries ,
Drafting Attorney ,
Estate Planning ,
Mental Capacity ,
Probate ,
Spouses ,
Summary Judgment ,
Testamentary Capacity ,
Wills
In Allebach v. Gollub, the decedent had three children, and after he died, one of them filed a will contest and a claim that the decedent’s marriage to his second wife was void. No. 14-22-00272-CV, 2023 Tex. App. LEXIS 3469...more
8/28/2023
/ Appeals ,
Beneficiaries ,
Marriage ,
Mental Capacity ,
Probate ,
Standing ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Summary Judgment ,
Testamentary Capacity ,
Voidable ,
Will Contest ,
Wills
The Court noted that a claim generally accrues when the defendant’s wrongful conduct causes the claimant to suffer a legal injury. Id. The Court also noted that the discovery rule can defer accrual of limitations...more
In Donnelly v. Donnelly, a widow sued her deceased husband’s son for failing to change the beneficiary designation on the husband’s IRA to name her. No. 14-21-00592-CV, 2022 Tex. App. LEXIS 7615 (Tex. App.—Houston October 13,...more
1/17/2023
/ Affidavits ,
Beneficiaries ,
Beneficiary Designations ,
Breach of Duty ,
Evidence ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Adviser ,
Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Summary Judgment ,
Testimony ,
Widows
In Ahmed v. Bank of Whittier, a party sued a bank for aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty by assisting the plaintiff’s attorney in improperly depositing settlement funds. No. 05-21-00058-CV, 2022 Tex. App. LEXIS 2987...more
In Wells Fargo, N.A. v. Clower, a trustee filed suit for declaratory relief regarding its discretion to make income distributions. No. 02-20-00058-CV, 2021 Tex. App. LEXIS 7675 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth September 16, 2021, no...more
In McEndree v. Volke, a beneficiary sued a trustee, her former step father, for breaching fiduciary duties. No. 11-19-00351-CV, 2021 Tex. App. LEXIS 7856 (Tex. App.—Eastland September 23, 2021, no pet. history). ...more
In Flores v. Branscomb PC, before her death, the decedent hired counsel to prepare a new will. No. 13-18-00411-CV, 2021 Tex. App. LEXIS 4612 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi June 10, 2021, no pet. history)....more
In Austin v. Mitchell, a wife filed suit alleging her ex-husband fraudulently transferred a portion of his limited partnership interest in a family limited partnership to a trust for the benefit of his children. No....more
A business divorce may mean that the owners need to sell the business or the business’s assets. In the following case, some of the owners/officers took advantage of a sale transaction to benefit from that transaction at the...more
3/30/2021
/ Appeals ,
Asset Purchase Agreements ,
Breach of Duty ,
Business Assets ,
Business Divorce ,
Corporate Bonuses ,
Corporate Officers ,
Disgorgement ,
Duty to Disclose ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Forfeiture ,
Reversal ,
Summary Judgment
Parties often begin a business together without thinking through all of the legal details that define their rights. When they eventually divorce, they need to resort to the language in agreements that they entered into and...more
In Denson v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Sandra Denson went to her bank to deposit $730 when a $50 bill became temporarily stuck in the cash counting machine, causing the teller to miscount the amount of the deposit as $680....more
In In the Estate of Hohmann, the decedent died without leaving an executed will, but his caretaker found a hand written document wherein the decedent stated his wishes for his property. No. 04-20-00237-CV, 2020 Tex. App....more
In Pense v. Bennett, the ward in a guardianship proceeding sued to invalidate the sale of real property from a trust created for his benefit to an affiliate of the trustee. No. 06-20-00030-CV, 2020 Tex. App. LEXIS 8002 (Tex....more
In Benge v. Thomas, a settlor created a trust and appointed her daughter, Missi, as the trustee. No. 13-18-00619-CV, 2020 Tex. App. LEXIS 6888 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi August 27, 2020, no pet.)....more
11/19/2020
/ Appeals ,
Beneficiaries ,
Breach of Duty ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
General Partner ,
General Partnerships ,
Limited Partnerships ,
Standing ,
Summary Judgment ,
Trustees ,
Trusts
In Benge v. Roberts, a beneficiary sued co-trustees and sought to remove them for breaching duties by not considering claims against a former trustee. No. 03-19-00719-CV, 2020 Tex. App. LEXIS 6335 (Tex. App.—Austin August 12,...more
In Gill v. Grewal, the suit arose out of a failed business venture between old college friends. No. 4:14-CV-2502, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 104461 (S. D. Tex. June 15, 2020)....more
Texas has recently had two opinions that seemingly take opposite views on whether a contingent remainder beneficiary has standing to sue a trustee for trust administration issue.
In In re Estate of Little, a settlor of a...more
In In the Estate of Mahaffey, a testatrix executed a new will nine days before she died of cancer. No. 04-19-00122-CV, 2019 Tex. App. LEXIS 11171 (Tex. App.—San Antonio December 27, 2019, no pet. history)....more
2/13/2020
/ Appeals ,
Beneficiaries ,
Burden of Proof ,
Diminished Capacity ,
Estate Planning ,
Probate ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Summary Judgment ,
Will Contest ,
Wills
In Melton v. Waddell, a sister sued her brother for breach of fiduciary duty for misapplying funds in a joint account and not properly allocating revenues from real estate that they owned as tenants in common. No....more
David F. Johnson recently presented his paper on “Summary Judgments in Texas” at the State Bar of Texas’s Advanced Civil Appellate Course in Austin, Texas. This presentation included a discussion of the finality of summary...more
In Sanders v. Hathaway, the decedent’s estate’s representative sued her sister for various claims arising from the decedent’s beneficiary designation changes, deed transfers, and accounts payable on death changes that...more
In In re Ignacio G. & Myra A. Gonzales Trust, a couple formed a trust and named their daughter as the trustee. No. 06-19-00014-CV, 2019 Tex. App. LEXIS 4648 (Tex. App.—Texarkana June 6, 2019, no pet. history)....more