Rubin on Probate Litigation

William Cross, as Trustee of the Perl Donohue Cross Revocable Trust and as Trustee of the Charles William Cross Revocable Trust v. Annette Cross Caito, et al. ,  Case No.: 502015CP001572XXXXMB    (Fla.Cir.Ct.) (Trial Order) This decision raises a host of trust administration questions regarding claims of breach of fiduciary duty.  While the specific breaches at issue in this case were very fact specific, the Trial Court's findings are useful in a variety of trust administration contexts:  A. Statute of Limitations           (1)   Trust limitation notices :   The first question the Court dealt with was the adequacy of certain trust limitation notices to bind a beneficiary to a six-month statute of limitations as opposed to a four-year statute of limitations.  The Court held that a specific reference to the six-month statute of limitations is required by F.S. 736.1008.  Without such a reference, the statute of limitations will be four years.           (2)   Adequ

Bryan v. Fernald , --- So.3d --- (Fla. 2d DCA 2017) In determining the beneficiaries of an estate, can a probate judge rely on a factual finding made by a judge in a medical malpractice case?  Here, where there was a question about the validity of the decedent's marriage at the time of her death, which would alter the determination of her intestate heirs, the Court held that the doctrine of res judicata did not apply, because in a probate action to determine beneficiaries and a medical malpractice suit, the things sued for and the causes of action are different.