Matt has had the opportunity to assist numerous clients in a wide variety of Arkansas-based litigation and non-litigation scenarios. These clients consisted of both fiduciaries (trustees of trusts, executors of wills, administrators of intestate estates, agents under powers of attorney, etc.) and those to whom fiduciary duties were owed (beneficiaries of estates and trusts, settlors of trusts, principals under powers of attorneys, etc.).
These are a few of the exemplary cases in which Matt has been involved:
OBTAINING JUSTICE FOR A FINANCIALLY EXPLOITED ELDERLY MOTHER AND HER TRUST-----Matt was attorney for client who was an outnumbered co-trustee/co-beneficiary forced to sue her sibling co-trustees/co-beneficiaries stemming from their pilfering of their Alzheimer's Disease-stricken mother's trust over many years; After a 4-day jury trial, obtained a unanimous verdict on all claims and an award of $1,565,000.00 inclusive of compensatory and punitive damages, plus Court-ordered awards of 6% pre-judgment interest and 10% post-judgment interest on the damages award (amounting to hundreds of thousands of additional dollars), and $51,428.00 in attorney's fees and costs, as well as removal of her siblings as co-trustees of the trust so that she was the sole remaining trustee (DEB MITCHELL)
DEFENDING FIDUCIARY ACCUSED OF TAKING ADVANTAGE OF FAMILY MEMBER-----Matt was counsel for client-trustee accused of allegedly misappropriating funds and unduly influencing his relative into signing a multi-million dollar life insurance policy naming him as the beneficiary; Successfully avoided any litigation being filed and negotiated a private settlement in which the family harmony was preserved and the trustee was still named as a partial beneficiary of the policy which ultimately paid him hundreds of thousands in insurance proceeds a few months later when the relative passed away (MARC VERBOS)
PREVENTING THE BILKING OF AN ESTATE AND TRUST FOR EXCESSIVE FEES-----Matt was attorney for two client-executors of an estate who were attempting to keep a rogue trustee from obtaining an excessive trustee fee for unnecessary and undocumented alleged work to administer a simple trust upon the elderly woman's death; After multiple depositions of the trustee's expert witnesses, a well-regarded estate planning attorney and a local trust officer, as well as a half-day trial, the judge completely denied the trustee's fee petition as well as the fee petition of his attorney, resulting in tens of thousands of dollars going to the deceased's chosen beneficiaries, her church and a local charity, instead of the trustee and his lawyer (SYLVIA BAILEY)
ENSURING THE CARRYING OUT OF A FATHER'S WISHES FOR HIS ESTATE AND TRUST-----
TOMMY EVANS)
STOPPING AN OLDER SIBLING'S ABUSE OF HER POSITION AS TRUSTEE-----Matt was co-counsel for two client-sisters suing their older sister-trustee for pilfering their parents' trust over many years and failing to provide them with accurate information regarding the trust's assets and expenditures; After a week-long jury trial, obtained a unanimous verdict on all claims and an award of $1,893,446.40 inclusive of compensatory damages, punitive damages, and costs, plus 10% post-judgment interest on the damages award (DEBBIE EVANS/GAIL GRAVES)
ENFORCING ESTATE PLANNING WHEN THE SETTLOR HAD SECOND THOUGHTS-----Matt was co-counsel for a client who went through a years-long divorce from his wife, whom during the marriage had done extensive estate planning and transferred millions of dollars worth of timberland into various trusts and corporate entities; After the divorce proceeding commenced, she sought to reverse the transactions on the basis that she was allegedly incapacitated and unduly influenced into changing the solely-owned property to jointly owned property; After numerous depositions and expert witnesses who opined regarding the wife's mental state, a large settlement was reached in mediation allowing for the divorce to go forward without a trial and the client was allowed to retain his half of millions of dollars of property.
OBTAINING INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTATION REGARDING A TRUST, ESTATE, ETC.---Matt has served as attorney for perhaps dozens of clients over the years wherein no litigation was filed, but rather letters were prepared and sent that resulted in the provision of substantial documentation from non-corporate fiduciaries (family member trustees, etc.) who either refused to fulfill their duty to account, or perhaps did not practically know how to go about it; Generally speaking, these efforts resulted in an exchange of valuable information (accountings, account records, asset identification, expense disclosure, etc.) that the beneficiary had never previously received and might not ever receive but for the demand letters that were delivered; Sometimes the clients were not happy with the fiduciary's document production and therefore proceeded to file suit or request a Court-ordered accounting, while other times the clients were satisfied with the information provided and, having learned about their rights and remedies, were content to prospectively request accountingw on their own without further need of counsel.
INTERPRETING WILLS, TRUSTS, POWERS OF ATTORNEY, AND OTHER ESTATE PLANNING DOCUMENTS-----
---Representing multiple beneficiaries of a family trust in a dispute with the trustees and other persons regarding the interpretation of the trust and who are and are not intended beneficiaries of the trust; case still pending in Circuit Court
---Attorney for numerous different clients who were beneficiaries of trusts and had questions regarding interpretation of the trust's terms, concerns regarding the trustee's actions, inquiries about the trust assets or distributions, etc.;
Mike/Jan Bryant (beneficiary) (TBD)
Imboden (intestate beneficiaries)
Betty Jones (executor/beneficiary) (settlement)
Aikman kids (beneficiary of trust/took over as trustee) (TBD)
Tommy Evans (trustee/beneficiary of estate and trust)) (bench trial)
Joe Bradley (beneficiary of estate) (settlement)
Curt/Virginia Noel (trustee/executive/beneficiary) (TBD)
Jane Robbins (intestate beneficiary) (TBD)
Gloria Stewart (beneficiary of estate) (TBD)
T.L. Jumper (estate/daughter) (settlement)
ETTY JONES
Deborah Perna (distant relative) (info only)
Susan Miller (accounting/information) (info from sister)
Dianne Meriweather/Connie Alford/Geneva Healey
Jim Brown