A recent lengthy but interesting series of stories (Part I and Part II) on the odd heiress, Huguette Clark, appeared to prompt a good article yesterday from Bob Sullivan, who covers Internet scams and consumer fraud for msnbc.com. Mr. Sullivan’s posting focuses upon allegations and situations involving elder financial abuse, which is a significant portion of my own law practice. I suggest that you read the [...]
Archive for the ‘Breach of fiduciary duties’ Category
Stealing From Grandma And Grandpa—Inheritance Theft
Posted in Breach of fiduciary duties, Duties of executors, Duties of trustees, Misappropriation of assets, Powers of attorney, Rights of beneficiaries, Self-dealing, tagged power of attorney, undue influence, Huguette Clark, Bob Sullivan, elder abuse, financial abuse, elder financial abuse, attorney, accountant, elder theft, financial exploitation, Elder Justice Act, elder law attorney on August 28, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Inheritance Hijackers: Who Wants To Steal Your Inheritance And How To Protect It
Posted in Breach of fiduciary duties, Duties of executors, Duties of trustees, Misappropriation of assets, Rights of beneficiaries, Self-dealing, Will contests, tagged assets, trust, beneficiary, litigation, fiduciary, Inheritance Hijackers, inheritance theft, Robert Adamski, inheritance, victim, Protect Your Estate on August 6, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
At the recommendation of a client, I have recently started reading a fascinating book entitled Inheritance Hijackers: Who Wants To Steal Your Inheritance And How To Protect It (Ovation Books 2009) written by a Florida attorney named Robert C. Adamski. The book is primarily written for beneficiaries and potential beneficiaries of an inheritance. Mr. Adamski’s book sets forth an extensive [...]
Arkansas Court Of Appeals Rules Dying Woman Not Competent To Execute Deed
Posted in Breach of fiduciary duties, Misappropriation of assets, Recent Arkansas appeals, Rights of beneficiaries, tagged competent, confidential, deed, duress, incapacity, invalid, mentally impaired, Pulaski County, trust, undue influence on May 2, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Sorry for no posts as of late—I’ve been tied up preparing for, and then engaged in, a lengthy trust litigation case in which the jury, after a 6 day trial in Pulaski County Circuit Court, returned a significant verdict for our clients. I’m just now trying to catch up on other work, but hope to resume regularly [...]
Removal Of A Trustee Under Arkansas Law
Posted in Accounting actions, Breach of fiduciary duties, Duties of executors, Duties of trustees, Self-dealing, tagged Arkansas Trust Code, beneficiary, breach of trust, executor, personal representative, removal on January 25, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
My previous blog post generally discussed principles associated with the removal of executors or personal representatives of an estate. This post is similar except that it analyzes this issue in the context of trusts rather than estates. Every trustee of a trust, and every beneficiary of a trust, should be aware of these principles as well. To [...]
Removal Of An Executor (Personal Representative) From An Estate Under Arkansas Law
Posted in Breach of fiduciary duties, Duties of executors, Misappropriation of assets, Rights of beneficiaries, tagged administer, arkansas, asset, beneficiary, conflict, conflict of interest, debt, distribute, estate, executor, fiduciary, good faith, heir, intestacy, intestate, letters, manage, passed away, personal representative, probate, property, removal, remove, testamentary, will on January 9, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
As previously discussed on this Blog, an executor, also known as a personal representative, is a person who is charged with the responsibility of administering an estate after another person has passed away. They will typically do things like collect and inventory the deceased’s assets, manage the property, pay the debts, and distribute property according to [...]
UPDATED: Sentencing Time In The Ultimate Wealth War: The Astor Family Fortune
Posted in Breach of fiduciary duties, Duties of executors, Duties of trustees, In the news, Misappropriation of assets, Self-dealing, tagged Anthony Marshall, Astor, Brooke Astor, estate planning, law enforcement, Phillip Marshall, trust administration, wealthy, white collar crime on December 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
As we are in the midst of the holiday season and families all around the world are coming together to enjoy each other’s company for a few fun-filled days (or in some cases a couple of miserable hours), it can be a little disheartening to read about (much less write about) another wealth war in the news. [...]
New Book And Television Series Coming Out About Estate, Trust & Probate Battles
Posted in Breach of fiduciary duties, In the news, Misappropriation of assets, Rights of beneficiaries, Will contests, tagged book, conspiracy, documents, estate, fortune, fraud, lawsuit, money, movie, probate, prominent, television, Trial And Heirs, trust, TV on December 3, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The estate, trust, and probate disputes and lawsuits that one reads about in the newspapers and which we commonly see in our law practice can seem like a television or movie drama. Common threads running through these battles frequently include prominent characters in the community, tales of large sums of money flying around, allegations of complex conspiracies, questions regarding [...]
Avoiding Estate, Trust & Probate Litigation
Posted in Accounting actions, Breach of fiduciary duties, Duties of executors, Duties of trustees, In the news, Interpretation of wills/trusts, Misappropriation of assets, Rights of beneficiaries, Self-dealing, Will contests, tagged Abraham Lincoln, beneficiaries, bypass, distribution, estate litigation, estate planning, fraud, intentions, no-contest, probate litigation, surprise, trust department, trust litigation, trusts, U.S. News, undue influence on November 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Since one of my areas of practice is estate, trust & probate litigation, it is obviously not in my economic self-interest to counsel against getting involved in this type of litigation in the first place. However, first and foremost is a lawyer’s duty to his or her client, which while sometimes involves filing or defending a [...]
