How Does Trust Litigation Happen?

If you have established a trust, you have already substantially reduced the chances that disputes will arise over your property after you die and that, if disputes arise, they will cause the intended beneficiaries to lose money.  Since they are non-probate assets, trusts can operate outside of court, unlike the process of administering a will.  Except for this important difference, though, disputes over wills and disputes over trusts have a lot in common.  They can occur when someone feels that they have been unfairly excluded from inheriting assets from you, or when the heirs feel that the people with the legal authority to handle your money are not doing what they should.  If you are a trustee or a beneficiary of a trust, and you need help resolving a dispute related to a trust, contact a Dade City estate planning lawyer.

Proving That the Trust Is Legally Valid

During probate, one or more heirs can challenge the will by providing evidence that it is legally invalid.  Even though trusts do not go through probate, heirs and anyone else who believes that they have been unfairly excluded as beneficiaries may file a challenge to the validity of the trust.  The reasons that people challenge trusts resemble the most common reasons for challenging wills, such as the following:

• Lack of conformity to formal requirements
• Undue influence
• Fraudulent trust instrument, executed without the grantor’s knowledge and bearing a forged signature
• The grantor was not of sound mind when he or she signed the trust instrument, because of dementia or another serious health condition

Requests for Declarative Relief

Declarative relief is when a judge issues a ruling providing an official interpretation of a trust instrument.  Most of the time, the courts do not get involved with trusts; many trusts live out their entire lives without the courts even finding out that they exist.  Trustees or beneficiaries may petition the court for declarative relief when there is ambiguous language in the trust instrument that is causing a disagreement between the interested parties in the trust.

Breach of Trust Actions

Breach of trust actions have many of the same contours as breach of contract lawsuits.  In both cases, the plaintiff must prove that a legally binding document exists and that the defendant’s actions defied the legally binding document, causing the plaintiff to suffer financial losses.  In the case of breach of trust actions, the plaintiff is a beneficiary of the trust, and the defendant is a trustee.  The plaintiff alleges that the trustee has failed to abide by the trust instrument, is keeping insufficient records, or has otherwise breached his or her fiduciary duty.

Contact a Florida Estate Planning Attorney About Trust Litigation

An estate planning attorney can help you file a trust lawsuit or defend yourself against one.  Contact The Law Office of Laurie R. Chane in Dade City, Florida to discuss your case.

Source:

leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0700-0799/0736/Sections/0736.0201.html