One advantage of using a trust for estate planning is privacy. The probate process is generally all a matter of public record for any inquiring mind. Trusts, though intended to be more private, can become public when disputes arise that pull the administration into court. But a new Ohio law is changing that.

Adam M. Fried recently presented at The Marvin R. Pliskin Advanced Probate and Estate Planning Seminar, sponsored by the Ohio State Bar Association's Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Section. More than 250 attorneys from across the state of Ohio attended the full-day Continuing Legal Education course.

Adam Fried is participating on a panel on NPR's "Sound of Ideas" program, broadcast on April 16th on 90.3 WCPN FM in Cleveland. The topic is "National Healthcare Decisions Day." 

Adam M. Fried and Franklin C. Malemud have been invited to participate on a panel for an upcoming CLE webinar hosted by Strafford. Entitled "Trust and Probate Challenges: Minimizing and Litigating Claims of Undue Influence, Fraud, Capacity and Mistakes," this webinar will be held on Thursday, January 18th from 1 pm-2:30 pm EST. The format will offer an interactive Q&A session as well.

Reminger Co., LPA is pleased to announce that Timothy J. Gallagher has joined our Cleveland, Ohio office.

Tim focuses his practice on legal matters involving probate, guardianship, trust, and estate administration. Tim represents trustees and executors of estates, creating flexible plans to meet their needs. Tim's experience in the area of probate and trust administration includes the drafting of estate plans for both individuals and families, and assisting them through the probate process. He also advises institutions on a variety of trust administration issues.

Reprinted from Probate Law Journal of Ohio, with permission of Thomson Reuters.  Copyright © 2017.

Years after the initial enactment of the Ohio Trust Code and articles published in this journal¹ the Tenth District Ohio Court of Appeals in Zook, et al. v. JP Morgan Chase Bank National Association, et al., 10th Dist. No. 15AP-751, 2017-Ohio-838, confirmed the viability of options under the Trust Code that afford trustees a path to finality in trust administration not subject to continuing court jurisdiction. Specifically, the Zook court confirmed what readers of this journal and those familiar with the Trust Code already “know”:

Twenty-four Reminger attorneys were included on the 2018 Best Lawyers in America© list, including 17 from our Cleveland office, four from our Columbus office, two from our Sandusky office, and one from our Cincinnati office. Of that group, four were honored in the category of Litigation-Trusts and Estates, and Trusts and Estates.

Reminger Co., LPA is proud to announce that Adam M. Fried has been honored as "Best Lawyers^® 2018 Lawyer of the Year” for Litigation - Trusts and Estates, Cleveland.

Adam received the recognition from Best Lawyers in America, a respected legal publication that selects its outstanding attorneys by conducting peer-review surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their peers.

Ten years after the first enactment of the Ohio Trust Code, in Zook, et al. v. JP Morgan Chase Bank National Association, et al., 10^th Dist. No. 15AP-751, 2017-Ohio-838, the Tenth District Ohio Court of Appeals gave insight into protections under the Ohio Trust Code afforded trustees against beneficiary claims and a provided a roadmap for a beneficiary to challenge such protection.

Following up on the recent blog post on basic principles of trust reporting, the Fifth District Court of Appeals released a timely analysis involving a trustee’s failure to account and an award of attorney fees against the trustee for their breach of duty in McHenry v. McHenry, (5^th Dist.), 2017-Ohio 1534.  The decision, originating out of the Stark County Probate Court is significant for two reasons:  (1) it provides a thorough analysis of a trustee’s duty to account even in the face of trust language relieving the trustee of his duty to account; and (2) the court awarded attorney fees in excess of the value of the compensatory damages, pursuant to its authority under R.C. 5810.04.