Justice D. Arthur Kelsey’s opinion in the 2020 Virginia case of Hunter v. Hunter, as Trustee of the Third Amended and Restated Theresa E. Hunter Revocable Living Trust, is a tour de force, on a par with decisions authored by the likes of Justice Horace Gray (1828-1902) and other such scholar-jurists of years long gone by. Gray’s Jackson v. Philips, 96 Mass. 539 (1867), particularly comes to mind. Thorough, clear, concise, jurisprudentially contextual, jargon-free, and rock solid when it comes to applying the common law as enhanced by equity, Kelsey’s opinion masterfully and efficiently--efficiency of language was not Gray’s strong point--lays out the past, present, and likely future state of the law when it comes to the enforceability of in terrorem/no-contest clauses in trust instruments. Such clauses are covered generally in §5.5 of Loring and Rounds: A Trustee’s Handbook [pages 438-445 of the 2020 Edition]. The relevant portions of the section are reproduced in the appendix below.
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