OK, say you are a beneficiary of your dad’s Florida revocable living trust he created when living in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Since your father has passed away, his best friend is the successor trustee, and he lives in Delray Beach, where he administers the trust: what the trust lawyers West Palm Beach call the principal place of administration under the Florida Trust Code. So, here are 5 things for trust beneficiaries to consider if you are thinking of suing your Florida trustee for investment losses. Or, put another way, here are 5 things for beneficiaries of a Florida Trust to think about BEFORE suing your Florida trustee for stock market losses after a market crash or panic.
1. Read the Florida Prudent Investor Rule–Florida Statutes 518.11. Chapter 518.11 of the Florida Statutes is the guiding light for all Florida trustees. Yes, you have to be a prudent Palm Beach Trustee. But do you KNOW what that means? Read F.S. 518.11 and know how the trustee did not — or did !– follow Florida’s prudent investor rule. If your trustee ignored the prudent investor rule, you may have a great case. There’s a laundry list of items for your trust litigation law firm’s consideration. Want to read the Florida prudent investor rule for free? Here is a link to read how a Florida trustee should invest; here is a link to read the Florida Prudent Investor Rule, Law 518.11: http://www.leg.state.fl.us/STATUTES/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0500-0599/0518/Sections/0518.11.html
2. Read the trust document. The trust that your father’s Lake Worth trust lawyer wrote may have some interesting language or words which your trust lawsuit attorney West Palm Beach will WANT to read. Does the trust language or document relieve the trustee from liability or create a different standard of care? Your trust lawyer Palm Beach will reach for the trust document as a first move: know what it says, and what the trust document fails to say.
3. Read what your trustee sent you: you may have lost the right to sue. What? Yes, in some cases, a beneficiary of a Florida trust may only have six 6 months to sue for breach of trust. What? Yes, look out for limitations notices and trust disclosure documents as those terms are used in the Florida Trust Code. They can severely limit the amount of time a beneficiary of a Palm Beach trust has to sue a trustee for investment losses or a stock market panic.
4. Was the Trustee’s investment strategy faulty or did the Florida trustee ignore his or her own investment strategy for the trust? Did you know that each trustee of a Florida trust, and each prudent investor (listen up executors of Florida wills!) has to invest prudently and have an investment strategy? You BETTER know what your Palm Beach trustee’s investment strategy was before calling her or him to the witness stand in your investment loss trust lawsuit Palm Beach.
5. Do you understand trust damages in a Florida trust lawsuit for stock market losses and investment losses? Just because the stock market crashed or there was a sell off or stock market panic does not mean you get to win your trust lawsuit. Necessarily. Said another way, just because the value of your dad’s revocable trust Florida went down, does not mean that you necessarily win your trust lawsuit. You need to prove damages ! Evidence ! Who is your first witness on trust damages Florida and do you need a damage expert to testify at trial? Well, two things which you DO need are an understanding of what MARKET ADJUSTED DAMAGES are and Florida Trust Code Section 736.1002. If you are not familiar with each of these trust concepts, or stock market damage concepts, talk to a trust fiduciary litigation law firm West Palm Beach.
Want to read the Florida trust law on damages for breach of trust? Here’s the link: http://www.leg.state.fl.us/STATUTES/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0700-0799/0736/Sections/0736.1002.html