Estates and Trusts

Adriann McGee and Mary Kraft represented the Plaintiff, the Executor of an Estate in a claim for breach of fiduciary duty.  Plaintiff’s claim included that the power of attorney for the decedent breached her duties by adding herself as the co-owner on the decedent’s bank account, then gifting herself funds that belonged solely to the decedent.  Adriann and Mary presented their case over a 4 day trial in front of the jury.  The jury also awarded attorney fees and costs to the Plaintiff estate.  This was the first jury trial to be held in the Delaware County Probate Court in 25 years. 

Defended an attorney and Trustee of an irrevocable trust against allegations of failure to properly file income tax returns, failure to diversify investments of the Trust, and other allegations of breach of fiduciary duty. Motion to dismiss was granted due to the terms of the trust which opted out of the duty to diversify and also exonerated the trustee for any conduct that did not rise to the level of willful misconduct. 

Defended an action filed in the Portage County Probate Court by a Trustee of a Trust seeking a right to a determination that certain amendments to a California Trust were invalid. Motion for judgment on the pleadings, citing Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction and a statute of limitations defense under California Law, was granted and the action was dismissed.

We obtained a Plaintiffs’ verdict at trial for the decedent’s sisters invalidating, on the basis of undue influence, changes made to their decedent brother’s beneficiary designations for bank accounts, retirement accounts, a car title, and real estate executed two months before the decedent died and were contrary to the decedent’s expressed intent in his estate planning for more than 20 years. The trial victory resulted in $800,000 being returned to the benefit of Plaintiffs and their family members.

Defense of an attorney-trustee in trust lawsuit. The Federal Court dismissed the Plaintiff’s federal lawsuit on res judicata grounds.