Recent Cases Of Interest To Fiduciaries - June 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:

Schwartz v. Wellin, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 53083 (D. S.C. 2014) Trust Protector Not an Interested Party in Lawsuit. In the Matter of the Estate of Darrell R. Schlicht, 2014 WL 1600914 (N. M. Ct. App. 2014) Under the Uniform Trust Code, a will may revoke a trust if the will substantially complies with a revocation method provided in the terms of the trust. Fulp v. Gilliland, 998 N.E.2d 204 (Ind. 2013) The Indiana Supreme Court holds that a settlor/trustee does not owe a fiduciary duty to remainder beneficiaries of the settlor's revocable trust. McArthur v. McArthur, 224 Cal.App.4th 651 (Cal. App. 1st Dist. 2014) When beneficiary challenged the validity of a trust amendment that included an arbitration provision, the arbitration provision was not enforceable to resolve the beneficiary's claim. In the Matter of Eleanor Wood Zara, 2014 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1554 (N.Y. Sur. Ct. 2014) The expense of administering a trust valued at $250,000 was not so uneconomical as to warrant early termination. Fintak v. Fintak, 120 So. 3d 177 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2d Dist. 2013) Florida appellate court holds that a settlor does not need to renounce the benefits of his own irrevocable trust before challenging the validity of the trust. Rollins v. Rollins, 2014 Ga. LEXIS 179 (Ga. Sup. Ct. 2014) The Supreme Court of Georgia held trustees of a trust to a corporate level fiduciary standard (and not trust...