John Wick - What You Need To Know about the Corporate Transparency Act
Once Removed Episode 24: Expressing Goals and Intent for the Trust
Once Removed Episode 23: Naming Guardians for Minor Children
Digital Planning Podcast Episode: Planning for Influencers
A Primer On Trusts - A Podcast with Janathan Allen
Once Removed Episode 12: SLATs and the Case of McKim vs. McKim
Once Removed Episode 11: Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts, or SLATs
Once Removed Episode 10: Trustee Removal and Case Update on Leo Kahn Revocable Trust
Nonprofit Basics: Meeting Minutes Best Practices
Nonprofit Basics: Conflict of Interest Policies and Best Practices for Approving Insider Compensation
The Case of the Disappearing Trust
Protecting Your Estate Plan from Challenges: No-Contest Clause Explained
Estate Planning 101: The Five Most Important Clauses for Wills and Trusts
Law Brief: Alexis Gruttadauria and Rich Schoenstein Discuss Why You Need an Estate Plan
THE PAPER CHASE
Investment Management Update – Exit Strategies
Bill on Bankruptcy: US Airways Need a Merger More than AMR
Bill on Bankruptcy: Supreme Court Cases Will Have Wide Impact
Bill on Bankruptcy: Trustees Sleep Easy after High Court Ruling
Bill on Bankruptcy: ResCap Report, a Bargain at $83 Million
On May 9, 2025, David Johnson gave his presentation “Bad Boys, Bad Boys: Ramification for Intentional Breaches of Fiduciary Duties by Trustees,” to the Corpus Christi Estate Planning Council. This presentation addressed the...more
In a recent decision, the Court of Appeals of Virginia upheld a lower court’s ruling that Kositzka, Wicks and Company (KWC) breached its fiduciary duty to Edward Joseph Ryan, awarding his estate $999,050 in damages, attorney...more
Elderly persons often sign new estate documents, including trusts and trust amendments. Certainly, all persons with competence and without improper influences have the right to leave their property to whoever, and however,...more
Under section 43(b) of the Trusts (Guernsey) Law, 2007, when a trustee resigns or is removed it may require that it be provided with reasonable security for liabilities before surrendering trust property....more
When hostilities break out between individual co-trustees, incumbent trust counsel faces a representation conundrum. In §8.8 of Loring and Rounds: A Trustee’s Handbook (2025), see appendix below, we grapple with the...more
While PC software programs are a practical improvement over the trustee’s hard-copy ledger book, when it comes to keeping track of trust income and principal these programs still require serious clerical monitoring on the...more
Assume the deceased settlor of a trust had intended that his niece be included in the beneficiary class, but his estate-planning attorney had negligently made no provision for her in the governing instrument. After settlor’s...more
In In re Est., the court of appeals dealt with whether a contingent beneficiary can file claims against a trustee. No. 02-23-00104-CV, 2024 Tex. App. LEXIS 1878 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth March 14, 2024, no pet.)....more
An incident of the trustee’s duty to be generally prudent, to account (or report) to beneficiaries, and to refrain from breaches of the duty of undivided loyalty, such as engaging in unauthorized self-dealing, is the...more
For many clients, the inclusion of revocable and/or irrevocable trusts as part of their overall estate plan is an important feature. Revocable trusts can allow for probate avoidance and estate tax planning, whereas...more
On September 12, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed a trial court decision that had rejected a bank’s assertion of the in pari delicto defense to aiding and abetting claims brought by the...more
Newcomers to probate litigation are frequently surprised by how differently things work in probate court, as opposed to your more straightforward civil courts. (And how do those newcomers know how civil courts work? Law &...more
In Gordon v. Gordon, a couple created a revocable trust and named a friend, who provided financial advice, as successor trustee. No. 03-22-00454-CV, 2024 Tex. App. LEXIS 3611 (Tex. App.—Austin May 23, 2024, no pet. history)....more
"The law on 'knowing receipt' has perplexed judges and academics alike for several decades" – Lord Burrows (paragraph 99). In a decision with significant implications for claims involving fraud and breach of fiduciary duty...more
Just when trustees are feeling safe to go back into the water after the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal spoke in Zhang Hong Li v. DBS Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd [2019] along comes Ivanishvilli v. Credit Suisse Trust Ltd [2023]...more
In Mendell v. Scott, a decedent had a trust that named him as primary beneficiary, and upon his death, the trust would continue for a niece provided that she did not commit a prohibited act. No. 01-20-00578-CV, 2023 Tex. App....more
Matters of law will certainly not always be black and white, however, the Courts have adopted a traditional approach when assessing matters of mismanagement or misconduct by directors in relation to company – if there is...more
In McCoy v. McCoy, trust beneficiaries sued the trustee for breaching his fiduciary duties by pursing claims against a third party when they instructed him not to do so. No. 08-23-00119-CV, 2023 Tex. App. LEXIS 6604 (Tex....more
On September 13, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas granted in part and denied in part UMB Bank’s motion to dismiss counterclaims for tortious interference, breach of contract, and breach of the duty of...more
In Moody Nat’l Bank v. Moody, a beneficiary sued a trustee regarding several allegations of breach of fiduciary duty. No. 14-21-00096-CV, 2022 Tex. App. LEXIS 7844 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] October 25, 2022, pet....more
In Su v. Fensler, No. 22-cv-01030, 2023 WL 5152640 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 10, 2023), the court granted the Department of Labor’s motion for a preliminary injunction to replace with an independent fiduciary the trustees of the United...more
On August 24, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Kirschner unanimously held that notes evidencing syndicated loans do not plausibly qualify as “securities” covered by state and federal securities laws...more
In Ahlgren v. Ahlgren, plaintiffs sued a defendant alleging that the defendant was a trustee of an oral trust who breached duties by refusing to return certain property. No. 13-22-00029-CV, 2023 Tex. App. LEXIS 4182 (Tex....more
On April 26, 2023, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware denied in part and granted in part motions to dismiss a chapter 7 trustee’s breach of fiduciary duty and aiding and abetting claims. The defendants...more
In certain circumstances, shareholders of corporations and members of limited liability companies can obtain confidential communications between corporate management and the company’s attorney that would otherwise be...more