In a perfect world, Trustees and Personal Representatives would carry-out their duties with absolute fidelity and good sense. Similarly, heirs and beneficiaries would never gripe about inheritance matters. Unfortunately, in the real world disputes arise when Trustees, Personal Representatives, beneficiaries, and heirs are at odds over administration or disposition of an estate or trust. Children do fight over money and inheritance. They allege that someone exercised undue influence over the decedent. They claim a Trustee or Personal Representative has abused power or breached his/her fiduciary duties.
For that reason, we represent parties is such disputes. We help them understand their rights, evaluate the merits of the case, and determine the best course of action for resolving the matter in a fair, cost-effective, and timely manner. When appropriate, we move aggressively to protect our client’s interests.
Our work in these matters may include the following:
- beneficiary settlement agreements
- books and records
- breach of fiduciary duty
- disinheritance
- estate workout
- failure to account
- failure to administer
- failure to diversify investments
- family settlement agreements
- homestead exemptions
- joint account disputes
- no contest clause enforcement
- reforming trusts
- removing fiduciaries
- self-dealing transactions
- appointing successor trustees
- trust workout agreements
- trustee fee agreements
- trustee misconduct