Rubin on Probate Litigation

Rachins v. Minassian , 251 So. 3d 919 (Fla. 4th DCA 2018) Subsequent to the Minassian v. Rachins  decision, described here , the Court was once again faced with the interpretation of the Zaven Minassian Trust Agreement.  This time, the issue was whether the decedent's children had standing to contest the surviving spouse's administration of a trust for their benefit, where the terms of the trust provide that upon the spouse's death, the trust terminates, and the remaining assets are distributed to new trusts for the children's benefit. The Court found that the children are both beneficiaries and qualified beneficiaries of the trust. They are beneficiaries, because they have a future beneficial interest in the trust, since any remaining property will be disbursed to a new trust for their benefit.  It held that the fact that the remaining property would flow to a new trust for their benefit instead of outright did not preclude them from being beneficiaries under F...

Harrell v. Badger , 171 So.3d 764 (Fla. 5th DCA 2015), 2015 WL 3631639 This case highlights the lack of understanding many trust and estate practitioners have about what "decanting" actually means.  Despite the clear language of F.S. 736.04117, it seems  many are still confused about when decanting is appropriate, and about how to follow the simple rules provided in the statute. The decedent here left the remainder of her estate in trust for her son.  The trust required the trustee to distribute the net income to the son, and gave the trustee full discretion to make additional payments to or for the benefit of that son.  If assets remained at the son's death, the assets were to be distributed to the decedent's other two children. Following the decedent's death and a dispute among the children, the son's neighbor became the trustee of the trust.  He filed a petition to employ his wife as the realtor to sell the decedent's home- the sole ass...

Minassian v. Rachins , 152 So.3d 719 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014), 2014 WL 6775269 This case turned on the ability of a trust protector to modify a trust instrument to effectuate the settlor's intent.  At the settlor's death, the trust at issue provided for a family trust for the benefit of the settlor's wife.  Upon the wife's death, the family trust terminated and the trust referred to the establishment of separate shares for the decedent's children.   The children filed a complaint against the wife, as trustee of the family trust, for breach of trust.  She responded by moving to dismiss their complaint because they lacked standing, since they were not beneficiaries of the family trust.  She took the position that upon her death, the family trust terminated, and new trusts were created, and thus the children were not beneficiaries of the family trust during her life.  The trial court disagreed, finding that the use of the word "shares" prevented the court...

Corya v. Sanders , 155 So.3d 1279 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014), 2014 WL 5617045 This case centered around three trust accounting issues: (1) whether the affirmative defense of statutory laches limited the years a beneficiary was entitled to an annual accounting from certain trusts, (2) the interpretation of statutory provisions deciding the starting date for the annual accountings and (3) the interpretation of case law deciding the starting date for the annual accountings. The case deals with four irrevocable trusts which were in effect for decades before one of their beneficiaries filed a lawsuit against the trustees.  Before the lawsuit was filed, the trustees had never prepared accountings for any of the trusts. The trustees attempted to argue that there was no duty to account annually prior to July 1, 2007, when F.S. 736.0813 was passed.  The Court found that the prior statute, F.S. 737.303 also created a duty to account for an irrevocable trust, based on the language ...