Congrats Chuck Rubin!

A huge congratulations is in order for Chuck Rubin for being elected as an ACTEC (American College of Trust and Estate Counsel) Fellow!  

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Prewitt v. Kimmons

Prewitt v. Kimmons, 237 So.3d 1158 (Fla. 5th DCA 2018)
This decision rested on whether sufficient questions of fact were raised to preclude summary judgment regarding claims of breaches of fiduciary duty.  The beneficiary of an irrevocable trust sued her sister, one of the successor trustees, for breach of fiduciary duty, alleging that she had failed to distribute funds as provided for by the trust documents, failed to seek the return of $10,000 of trust assets wrongly retained by another of the successor trustees, and failed to return monies that she had purportedly misappropriated from the trust account prior to the settlor's death.  The Court held that questions of fact remained over the breach of fiduciary duty claim, where: (1) there was record evidence that the trustee had paid lease payments on a car that was ultimately conveyed to a beneficiary in contravention of the terms of the trust, (2) there was record evidence that the other successor trustee had received $10,000 fro…
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Schlesinger v. Jacob

Schlesinger v. Jacob, 240 So.3d 75 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018)

In this decision, the 3rd DCA adopts the requirement that an attorney's services must benefit a ward or the ward's estate in order to be entitled to fees. The Court focuses on the different standards under the statutes to determine entitlement to fees, versus the standard to determine amount and reasonableness of fees. 
On one hand, F.S. 744.108(1) governs entitlement to fees, and provides:
A guardian, or an attorney who has rendered services to the ward or to the guardian on the ward's behalf, is entitled to a reasonable fee for services rendered and reimbursement for costs incurred on behalf of the ward.
Case law construing this section has uniformly added in the requirement that the services must benefit the ward or the ward's estate, despite the fact that the word "benefit" appears nowhere in the statute.
On the other hand, F.S. 744.108(2) deals with the amount and reasonableness of fees once it is det…
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Smith v. Smith

Smith v. Smith, 232 So.3d 509 (Fla. 1st DCA 2017)
This decision involves the question of whether a prenuptial agreement precluded the surviving spouse from seeking the removal of the co-personal representatives of the decedent spouse's estate.  The prenuptial agreement in question provided that the surviving spouse would "refrain from any action or proceeding to void or nullify to any extent the terms of any last will and testament or trust or testamentary substitute."  
The co-personal representatives argued that the above provision prevented the surviving spouse from seeking their removal. The spouse argued that the provision did not affect her rights she later acquired through subsequently executed estate planning documents, and that the waiver provisions did not extend to the interest she acquired in her husband's estate when she was named an income beneficiary of the marital trust created under the terms of his last will executed after the marital agreement.
The Co…
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