Recent Cases Of Interest To Fiduciaries - October 14, 2014

In the most recent installment of the McGuireWoods Fiduciary Advisory Services annual multipart series on recent fiduciary cases, developments in the law concerning various topics are examined through the following:

Defenses and Limitations

Beck, et al. v. Mueller, 2014 Wisc. App. LEXIS 377 (Ct. App. Wisc., May 8, 2014) The statute of limitations barred beneficiaries' claims where each beneficiary had previously received a copy of the trust agreement long before the trusts should have terminated and their claims were not filed until well after the trust termination should have occurred. Davis v. Rael, No. B244897, 2014 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 3914 (Cal. Ct. App. 2014) Appellate court reversed trial court's surcharge of the trustee in excess of $1,200,000, where the statute of limitations barred the claim even though beneficiary claimed he had not received a copy of the trustee's accounting. In re Demesyeux, 978 N.Y.S.2d 608 (Nassau County Ct. 2013) A mother who pled not guilty by reason of insanity to charges of murder was disqualified from sharing in the wrongful death proceeds arising from her children's deaths. Resignation and Removal of Trustees

Spencer v. Di Cola, 2014 Ill. App. LEXIS 289 (App. Ct. Ill., May 1, 2014) An individual trustee was entitled to summary judgment where the trust beneficiaries effectively sought to replace the trustee with a corporate trustee without cause for removal or the authority to replace the trustee under the terms of the trust. Administration and Compensation

Weinstein v. Weinstein (In re Indenture Trust Dated January 13, 1964), 326 P.3d 307 (Ariz. Ct. App. 2014) Beneficiary of a spendthrift trust cannot voluntarily assign his interest or ratify the assignment. Gray v. Director, Div. of Taxation, 28 N.J. Tax 28 (N.J. Tax Ct. 2014) Transfers to trusts made more than three years before the grantor's death were not deemed transfers in contemplation of death. Prestidge v. Dep't of Revenue, 2014 Ore. Tax LEXIS 75 (Or. T.C. 2014) Decedent's beneficial interest in trust creates sufficient nexus in his state of residence for state inheritance tax to apply. Greenberg v. JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., 2014 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2011 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2014) Evidence of trustee's failure to reallocate assets in light of economic downturn sufficient to plead a case of breach of fiduciary duty. Abbot v. Brennemann (In re Brennemann Testamentary Trust), 288 Neb. 389 (June 27, 2014) Trustees found not liable for breach of duty to...