Palm Beach Trust Accounting Case: what you need to know about seeking a trust accounting (November 5, 2014 case)

Are you a trust beneficiary seeking a trust accounting from your Palm Beach trustee?  If so, you may want to read a brand new trust lawsuit legal opinion from the Palm Beach appellate court.  The 4th District Court of Appeal just made a ruling on trust accounting case involving a trust beneficiary who sued his mother and brother as co-trustees for an accounting.

Questions to Consider in a Trust Accounting Case

Without revealing what the Palm Beach appeals court said in this November 5, 2014 trustopinion, here are some questions for you to ponder if you are a trust beneficiary or a trustee of a Florida trust:

1. When do I have to start accounting ?
2. From what time period should the trust accounting start?
3. If a trustee fails to provide an accounting for a Florida trust repeatedly over the years, does that constitute a continuing tort or a continuing breach of fiduciary duty?
4. If a trustee fails to provide a trust accounting under the Florida Trust Code  year after year, does the beneficiary waive the right to the accounting?
5. What if the trustee of the Florida trust knows that he or she has to file an accounting butintentionally fails to provide the beneficiary with an accounting?
6. Can a Florida trustee operate a trust in secret?
7. Can a Florida trustee not tell the trust beneficiary where the trust money is?

Everyone’s Using Revocable Trusts to Leave Inheritances

• Trust accountings and beneficiary rights are important under the Florida Trust Codeand also in Palm Beach probates
• Trustees need to comply with the Florida trust laws and their fiduciary duties to trust beneficiaries
• Florida clients are increasingly leaving their wealth or family money in their Florida revocable living trusts
• This means that your inheritance from  your mom or dad may not be by wire transfer or check: your inheritance may be held and managed by the trustee who runs the trust
• Consider the 80 year old Boca Raton widow who dies with a revocable trust with $4 Million in it:  that family money may stay in trust for your benefit and the trust may be run by the Boynton Beach estate lawyer as trustee

What’s the take-away from this Palm Beach Trust Lawsuit?

• You can read the entire trust opinion from the appeals court which is located in West Palm Beach, Florida at their website for free. Here is the link to the trust opinion: http://4dca.org/opinions/Nov.%202014/11-05-14/4D12-3067.op.pdf
• Question: What are some take-aways from this Palm Beach trust case?
• Trustees in Florida have a duty to account and to inform to their trust beneficiaries under the Florida Trust Code
• This means that your Palm Beach Gardens trustee must tell you where the trust money is, how much it’s worth and give you all relevant information about the trust to you
• Failure by the Jupiter, Florida trustee to give the beneficiary a trust accounting in Florida is a breach of a Florida trustee’s fiduciary duty
• Failure to prepare a trust accounting is also called a breach of trust
• A breach of trust or a breach of fiduciary duty under Florida trust law is a wrong that is at least negligence and maybe an intentional tort
• Trust beneficiaries may get damages against the Palm Beach trustee PERSONALLY for the trustee’s breach of trust or breach of fiduciary duty