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Appeals Estate Claims

Charles E. Rounds, Jr. - Suffolk University...

Trustee’s Duty To Defend Trust Property From Third-Party Claims Versus Trustee’s Duty To Defend Trust’s Very Existence, As Well...

A longstanding and critical incident of a trustee’s fiduciary duty of loyalty is the duty to vigorously defend the trust’s very existence, as well as all its material provisions (hereinafter “existence defense”), unless it...more

Patton Sullivan Brodehl LLP

Derivative Claim Upheld for Estate of Deceased LLC Member

Asserting claims derivatively on behalf of an LLC, as opposed to directly on behalf of an LLC member, can be tricky business for even experienced litigators.  The requirements for derivative claims have been explored in...more

Lowenstein Sandler LLP

SDNY Chooses “Time Approach” to Calculating Lease Termination Damages Collectible Against a Bankrupt Estate

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Keara Waldron and Lindsay H. Sklar discuss the decision by the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York in the case of In re Cortlandt Liquidating LLC, which parted with decades of precedent to endorse and apply...more

Goulston & Storrs PC

Probate & Fiduciary Litigation Newsletter - April 2022

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This newsletter is intended to keep readers informed about developments in probate and fiduciary litigation in Massachusetts and New York. Our lawyers are at the forefront of this area of the law, shaping how it is handled in...more

Winstead PC

Court Dismissed Appeal By Pro Se Individual Who Could Not Represent An Estate

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In Kankonde v. Mankan, an attorney appealed the entry of an arbitration award on behalf of his clients, a doctor and his practice. No. 08-20-00052-CV, 2020 Tex. App. LEXIS 7040 (Tex. App.—El Paso August 31, 2020, no pet....more

Downey Brand LLP

Clear and Convincing Evidence Standard Continues to Apply in California Appeals

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Last week the California Supreme Court used a conservatorship case to clarify how appellate courts should review the sufficiency of evidence when the trial court applied the clear and convincing evidence standard. In...more

Gray Reed

Family History Guides Interpretation of a Texas Will

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Generally, if your will leaves your beloved “all … right, title and interest in and to”, said beloved would receive the entirety of your interest, whether a surface estate, mineral estate, or both. But in ConocoPhillips, et...more

Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel, P.C.

Who Gets Cash Hidden in House By Deceased Former Owner?

Imagine you bought a house and, a year and a half later, you discovered bundles of cash totaling more than $100,000 that had been hidden away by the deceased former owner. Who would be entitled to the money -- you or the...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Waiving a Decendent’s Attorney-Client Privilege

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“The attorney client privilege, the oldest among common-law evidentiary privileges, fosters the open dialogue between lawyer and client that is deemed essential to effective representation” (Spectrum Sys. Intern. Corp. v...more

Goulston & Storrs PC

Probate & Fiduciary Litigation Newsletter – December 2019

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The Probate & Fiduciary Litigation Newsletter compiles recent Trust & Estate cases. Our lawyers are at the forefront of this area of the law, shaping how it is handled in the Probate and Family Court. Goulston & Storrs is the...more

Goulston & Storrs PC

Probate & Fiduciary Litigation Newsletter – June 2019

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The Probate & Fiduciary Litigation Newsletter compiles recent Trust & Estate cases. Our lawyers are at the forefront of this area of the law, shaping how it is handled in the Probate and Family Court. Goulston & Storrs is the...more

Downey Brand LLP

When Defending Becomes Offensive: California Court Expands No Contest Clauses to Defense of Invalid Amendment

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No contest clauses are included in wills and trusts to discourage dissatisfied beneficiaries from challenging the document’s validity. Because enforcement of these clauses results in disinheritance, the California Probate...more

Goulston & Storrs PC

Probate & Fiduciary Litigation Newsletter – April 2019

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Disinherited Children Lose Challenge to Mother’s Will in New York Surrogate’s Court - Matter of Loe, 2019 WL 657041 (N.Y. Sur. Feb. 13, 2019) - Can disinherited children challenge their mother’s will based on possible...more

Bennett Jones LLP

Discouraging Family Fights from the Grave

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If you are a beneficiary in a will that contains a no-contest clause, and you don't like what the will directs, be careful before you question its validity. You just might lose everything....more

Goulston & Storrs PC

Probate and Fiduciary Litigation Newsletter – February 19, 2019

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Welcome to our first newsletter of 2019! Leighton v. Hallstrom, 94 Mass. App. Ct. 439 (2018) - In Leighton, the Appeals Court vacated a final decree of the Plymouth Probate and Family Court settling an intestate estate....more

Carlton Fields

Second Circuit Affirms Order Compelling Arbitration, Rejects As Waived Arguments Not Made Before Trial Court

Carlton Fields on

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals had no difficulty affirming a district court’s order compelling the executor of an estate to arbitrate his claims based on an arbitration clause contained in an IRA application signed by...more

Downey Brand LLP

Free Rider No More — When Can a California Trust Beneficiary Shift Legal Fees to Other Beneficiaries?

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American courts (including our California state courts), in contrast to courts in England, do not typically award attorneys’ fees to a lawsuit’s “victor.” There are, of course, exceptions to this so-called “American Rule.”...more

Winstead PC

Court Holds That A Judgment Was Not Effective Against Three Estates Where The Plaintiffs Did Not Sue The Estates’ Representatives...

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In Delgado v. Garza, the plaintiffs sued for breach of a warranty of title, trespass to try title, and other related claims all stemming from a land transaction between an ancestor of the Salinases and an ancestor of the...more

Lowndes

Lowndes Lawyers Successfully Obtain and Defend Probate Court Order Denying Request for Accounting and Settle Estate

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Lowndes attorneys obtained a favorable ruling from a probate court in Lee County, Florida, on behalf of a decedent’s estate; and thereafter, secured an affirmance of the ruling from Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal. ...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

The Supreme Court - March 27, 2018

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Hall v. Hall, No. 16-1150: Petitioner Elsa Hall and respondent Samuel Hall are siblings litigating against each other in two consolidated cases surrounding the management of their mother’s property and estate. One of the...more

Downey Brand LLP

Executor Can Swing Away at an Omitted Spouse Petition

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Born in Fresno, Kirk Kerkorian was an Armenian-American who went on to become a wealthy businessman and philanthropist, known for his role in shaping development in Las Vegas. After Kerkorian died in June 2015 at the age of...more

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP

First Department Affirms that an LLC’s Operating Agreement Trumps Delaware Law

A unanimous panel of the Appellate Division, First Department recently affirmed a ruling by the Commercial Division dismissing causes of action against the ACE Group International LLC (“AGI”) brought by the estate of the...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Delaware Contractarian Principles Prevail in Appeal Over Deceased Ace Hotel Founder’s LLC Interest

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The sudden death of Alexander Calderwood, the brilliant but troubled co-founder of the Ace brand of hotels, resulted in some fierce litigation between Calderwood’s estate and Calderwood’s LLC co-member over the nature of his...more

Smith Debnam Narron Drake Saintsing & Myers,...

A Last Will And Testament Can Always Be Changed (Before Death)

It is a fundamental principle of law that a Last Will and Testament duly signed and witnessed is binding on no one until the person who signed the Will dies. That is to say that a person who signs a Will in say January of...more

BCLP

Beware The Constructive Trust When Relying On ‘Informal’ Estate Distributions

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We like when families can work out their estate disputes outside of the courtroom. Georgia, for one, embraces the “family settlement doctrine,” where heirs at law can agree to distribute or divide property devised under a...more

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