Stepmother Trustee in Contempt: step children trust beneficiaries win on appeal
There’s nothing like a second or third family to create trust litigation in Palm Beach. When you put your second or third wife in charge of your revocable trust BUT your adult children from another marriage are beneficiaries…….. start calling Palm Beach trust litigation law firms in West Palm Beach. If you are a Palm Beach trustee, you owe fiduciary duties to your trust beneficiaries. If you are involved in a trust lawsuit with your trust beneficiaries, one thing which you don’t want to happen is to be found in CONTEMPT. That’s what happened in a recent case, whose opinion was released on May 7, 2014. Anyone who is serving as a successor trustee of someone’s
Florida revocable trust should read this trust lawsuit appellate opinion from Palm Beach’s appeals court: the 4th District Court of Appeal, www.4dca.org, which handles all appeals for trust lawsuits for Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale and Stuart, Florida.
Trust Litigation in the Downtown West Palm Beach Courthouse
- Beneficiaries of a Palm Beach Trust were involved in a Trust Lawsuit with their trustee
- The Palm Beach judge found the trustee in contempt
- The Trustee failed to comply with multiple court orders (NOT good)
Successor Trustee for Husband’s Florida Revocable Living Trust
- The trustee is the successor trustee to her husband
- The husband created a revocable living trust to handle their assets
- The Palm Beach trustee is supposed to distribute the trust assets to her stepchildren: her husband’s children from a prior marriage — in other words, she was supposed to give trust money to children who were not hers
Widow Tries to Revoke Palm Beach Revocable Trust
- The widow, or surviving spouse, sought to revoke the trust
- The stepchildren filed a trust lawsuit in Palm Beach County
- The Trustee was ordered to distribute half of the trust assets to her stepchildren
Stepchildren Request Accounting
Q: How do you know that you are getting all the money that you are supposed to get?
A: Get a trust accounting
- The judge in the West Palm Beach trust lawsuit ordered the trustee to complete an accounting within 30 days but the trustee didn’t do that.
- The stepchildren filed a motion for contempt and sanctions— the trustee didn’t show up for the hearing.
I won’t go into details about trustees behaving badly or what can happen when you don’t follow a Palm Beach judge’s orders. You should really read the opinion.
If you would like to read the entire legal opinion from Palm Beach’s appellate court, here is the link: http://4dca.org/opinions/May%202014/05-07-14/4D12-4188.op.pdf