CASE STUDY

The decedent had a very complex estate plan in order to avoid estate taxes upon her death. In her will, she named our client as the executor of her estate. Our client was also named as trustee for numerous trusts she created primarily for the benefit of her three children. Upon the decedent’s passing, two of the decedent’s children initiated litigation against our client in his numerous roles, including executor and trustee. The litigation claimed, among other things, that our client was withholding information, refusing to provide accountings for the trusts and the estate, and breach of fiduciary duty.

The decedent’s estate plan was extremely complex. It included trusts, LLC’s, and partnerships. In order to resolve all outstanding issues, which included litigation, judicial accountings, the winding up of the business entities, and the payment of estate taxes, we had to be very creative.

After winning a number of dispositive motions for the litigation matters, we eventually entered into settlement negotiations. Due to the complexity of the matter, and the many moving pieces, as well as our client’s desires, we needed to come up with a global settlement document that encompassed all of this. We were able to come up with creative solutions, and worked together with outside counsel and tax professionals, to achieve this.