Are you a Florida Trustee being sued for breach of fiduciary duty? What can you do? What defenses are available in a Florida trust lawsuit? Should you hire a trust litigator Boca Raton? To see a FREE VIDEO about TRUST CONTESTS, or a trust challenge click HERE. What is res judicata? What is laches? You will want to read Woodward v. Woodward to find out.
Defenses
- A common defense in any breach of fiduciary duty case is straightforward. Try to demonstrate that the fiduciary’s actions are within the bounds of the documents. Was the conduct permitted by the will or trust, and Florida law. Florida law is called the Florida Trust Code.
- For example, what the beneficiaries might argue are “improper investments,” a judge or jury may understand to be prudent, risk-averse investing decisions.
- To read more about serving as a trustee, consider trust expert John Pankauski‘s book. He wrote Pankauski’s Trustee’s Guide.
- There are some other defenses available to fiduciaries that go outside the substance of the breach claim itself. These include the defense of laches (waited to long to bring the claim and have waived it); the statute of limitations (the case is time-barred by law);res judicata, as well as the situational-specific defenses that include exculpatory clauses and self-executing accounting release provisions.
- Were there others involved? Beneficiaries may want to read about AIDING AND ABETTING breach of fiduciary duty. I’m not talking conspiracy. I’m just asking if others were involved.
Woodward v. Woodward
- The 4th District Court of Appeal issued an important opinion. It’s especially important if you are a Florida Trustee Being Sued for Breach of Fiduciary Duty.
- Why?
- The affirmative defenses of res judicata and laches were raised in this case.
- What is res judicata?
- Probate litigation lawyers Delray Beach know that “res judicata is a judicial doctrine used to bar parties from relitigating claims previously decided by a final adjudication on the merits.”
- Florida Trustees being sued for breach of fiduciary duty need to read the Woodard v. Woodward case.
- This defense bars parties from relitigating these claims if the subsequent claim “satisfies the following four elements: 1) identity in the thing sued for; 2) identity of the cause of action; 3) identity of persons and parties of the action; and 4) identity of the quality in the person for or against whom the claim is made.”
- What does this mean?
- What is laches?
- Click here to read the entire case and learn more about these two important affirmative defenses that may help you in your trust lawsuit West Palm Beach.
Free Resources for Florida Trustees Being Sued for Breach of Fiduciary Duty
- Read the Florida Courts webpage on the probate process
- Read the Florida Probate Code:http://www.floridabar.org/tfb/TFBLegalRes.nsf/
- Read the Florida Probate Rules:https://www.floridabar.org/tfb/TFBLegalRes.nsf/
- Here are the Rules Regulating the Florida Bar if you are interested in hiring a Florida probate litigation lawyer and want to know more about our ethical rules and our rules of conduct:http://www.floridabar.org/divexe/rrtfb.nsf/WContents?OpenView
- Here are the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure
- Watch free Florida Trust, Probate & Guardianship videos, which include important topics of Florida estate, guardianship, attorneys fees, & trust law.
- There is no cost, no sign up, no one will ask you for your email address to see these dozens of free Florida probate videos:http://www.pankauskilawfirm.
com/Firm-Overview/FAQS.shtml
