Trust & Estate Controversy

• A corporate trustee with a successful defense arising from being bequeathed the residue of a significant-dollar estate from the executor, the decedent’s surviving spouse; the trustee was sued by beneficiaries of the trust when the executor and the agent depleted the estate of millions of dollars; the suit arose after 10 years of probate administration, during which the trustee only wrote letters to executor’s counsel seeking accounting; the case against the trustee was dismissed on motion, with the court finding in a case of first impression that the trustee had no obligation to sue the executor to force turnover of the estate
• A corporate trustee with a successful defense and dismissal of charges of mismanagement of trust investment after the trustee participated in an ESOP tender offer of closely held shares of a private company held by the trustee; participation in the tender offer shifted voting control among dissident family members who were beneficiaries of the trust and who then sued the trustee
• A corporate trustee with a successful defense against a suit brought by beneficiaries for the allegedly improper distribution of the entire trust to senior-generation beneficiaries, the cause of multimillion-dollar adverse tax consequences to the next generation of beneficiaries; the suit was dismissed
• A corporate trustee with the defense against a rescission claim to undo a $5 million trust by heirs, claiming that the person establishing the trust lacked capacity, resulting in a settlement among parties with no payment to heirs and no attack on the trust
• The trustees and beneficiaries against a challenge by the creator of trusts, claiming that $10 million in trusts were quid-pro-quo for contractual obligations not fulfilled by the beneficiaries, resulting in a settlement agreement in which the trusts made no financial outlay to the creator of the trusts, and leaving the trusts intact
• The trustees and primary beneficiary of the trust with a full case dismissal of a $60 million intentional interference with a testamentary expectancy tort claim by a second spouse of the decedent
• A corporate trustee with a successful defense against claims the trustee had mismanaged an operating business held in trust after the business became worthless, with the result that the trustee’s accounts were approved and the fiduciary exonerated for all aspects of handling the business

Representing Plaintiffs and Others Challenging Provisions of Estates, Trusts and Actions by Fiduciaries

• A group of members of a multibillion-dollar family financial empire with the successful suit of wrongful disinheritance on the grounds that disinheritance from irrevocable trusts by the father/trustee was illegal
• The heir to long-established family fortune with the successful outcome of a matter stemming from claims made that a sibling had taken advantage of an elderly parent and diverted tens of millions of dollars; the matter resulted in a 125 percent recovery of the possible inheritance and the client obtaining use of several unique properties that had been withheld by family members
• The only child of a decedent with a challenge against a trust disinheriting the child and grandchildren in favor of a lawyer who had sued the child’s family in several years of litigation after the decedent became incapacitated and could not manage affairs; the matter was resolved in a special declaratory judgment action regarding conflicting provisions of the will for the child versus a new trust created for the lawyer, and which caused the plaintiff’s inheritance to be preserved and charged the trust for the lawyer with all taxes and administrative expenses of estate
• The beneficiaries of several multimillion-dollar trusts against actions of a trustee/farm manager, who was converting cash and marketable securities into additional farm property for the trust; we succeeded in forcing the trustee’s resignation after establishing that trust investments resulted in the “kickback” of farm management fees to the trustee
• In a case of first impression, represented intestate heirs (siblings) who sought to exclude parental claims through an alleged father and illegitimate children, using R.F.L.P. DNA testing on exhumed tissues from the decedent; all claims other than siblings’ rights of heirship were defeated by conclusive R.F.L.P. DNA analysis and, on appeal, established a case of first impression regarding use of the DNA analysis in heirship proceedings; the recovery by the heirs was in excess of $4 million.
• Represented beneficiaries in will contests and trust contests of wills and trusts created by two parents, who died almost simultaneously, resulting in a three-way split of multimillion-dollar estates on settlement, after establishing that several of the codicils and trust amendments were forgeries
• Successfully prosecuted “civil murder” cases under the “Slayer Statute” against alleged killers standing to inherit from a decedent’s estate; in three cases, we successfully froze millions of dollars of assets and brought about recovery of all but negligible amounts expended prior to the estate freezes; obtained ultimate determination that the alleged killer caused the death of decedent, including two cases where no criminal prosecution was ever brought; and in one case, judgments put the alleged killer into bankruptcy and eventual jailing, thus recovering funds and incarcerating the alleged killer who was never prosecuted for the crime of murder
• The relatives of a childless uncle who left an inherited estate to two caregivers who had sequestered the uncle from family members for more than 30 years; successfully defeated a longstanding set of six wills and trusts over 25 years, all in favor of the caregivers, by challenging only the final trust created for the caregivers on the decedent’s deathbed after allowing will to remain unchallenged; the relatives end up settling for recovery of a major portion of deceased uncle’s estate, after the caregivers are faced with prospect of defending the deathbed trust for their entire claim to the uncle’s estate
• Represented numerous plaintiffs, including the first such plaintiff in “Nemeth,” an Illinois case of first impression, creating intentional tort of “Interference with Testamentary Expectancy,” and making actions by persons obtaining stealing inheritances by undue influence compensable by those persons (as opposed to simply out of the estates at issue if recovery occurs)
• Represented an elderly plaintiff who had transferred an entire estate into an irrevocable charitable trust drawn up by an allegedly fraudulent charitable promoter, depriving the plaintiff of property; recovered all properties transferred in trust, placed the charitable promoter out of business pursuant to an attorney general’s investigation, and obtained a significant settlement against lawyers involved, arising from alleged malpractice in handling the situation
• Successfully obtained termination and distribution of a partnership, created with trust assets, where a beneficiary claimed the partnership had been fraudulently created to prevent distribution to children of a multimillion-dollar share of father’s trust; obtained a judicial order terminating and distributing trust properties immediately, with accounting by the second-spouse fiduciary for handling of the funds

Guardianship Litigation and Guardianship Estate Planning

• A corporate fiduciary in establishing a nationally recognized guardianship estate plan restructuring a disabled person’s billion-dollar, single-investment estate resulting in the creation of landmark charitable gifts, pre-empting a will contest and saving hundreds of millions in death taxes
• A corporate trustee/guardian with the successful defense against a claim by a disabled person that the trust for her benefit with $10 million, created by the disabled person when competent, should be terminated
• A corporate guardian with a successful defense against a claim that a settlement in excess of $1 million, releasing certain defendants in a personal injury suit, was improper after the guardian agreed to allow the entire settlement to pass to family members other than the disabled person’s estate
• A corporate guardian in a defense obtaining dismissal of the claim by relatives of a disabled person that the guardian should have prevented the plaintiff’s personal injury lawyer from taking allegedly excessive fees for involvement in a personal injury action
• In one case of guardianship estate planning, resolved a potential will contest by bringing about amendment of the will and obtaining consent of all family members and legatees who could have objected to the disabled person’s will, eliminating costly will contests in the process
• A client with the successful challenge of the creation and use of power of attorney, used to defeat guardianship, by having the power of attorney declared invalid and recovering any property transferred under the power of attorney
• On multiple cases, represented guardians obtaining dismissal of charges of managing or liquidating privately held businesses and operating entities held by disabled persons in guardianships
• A guardian in a defense obtaining dismissal of an alleged failure to account to court for handling of the disabled person’s assets and alleged failure to properly manage the decedent’s operating business, claims seeking millions of dollars of damages in addition to the removal of the guardian
• On multiple instances, represented disabled persons in successful full or partial restoration proceedings, to recover some or all legal capacity to contract, manage estates or handle personal affairs
• A landmark win as the first law firm in Chicago to obtain wills and trusts for disabled persons after legislation allowing creation of these documents by hearing in the guardianship court, with the result that we helped obtain millions of dollars of tax savings in more than a dozen estates of disabled persons, after courts have allowed the creation or modification of wills and trusts to effectuate tax and other family and estate planning objectives

Charitable and Exempt-Organization Litigation

• A charitable trust and not-for-profit corporation with its successful restructuring, which faced millions of dollars of delinquent federal excise taxes due to failed charitable administration and potential income taxes for failure to maintain exempt status
• A client in the successful defense against an attorney general, with the case dropped, in the multiyear challenge to the purchase of a failing hospital from its not-for-profit hospital corporation and claiming the client took advantage of the charitable seller in the initial purchase and of the charitable purchaser when the “revived” hospital was sold back to charity
• A private foundation in successfully obtaining a multimillion-dollar charitable bequest which executors had sought to divert to a different charity using certain broad powers and provisions in the will creating the bequest
• A community trust in obtaining and maintaining public charity status to avoid application of private foundation regulation and secure court approval of the reorganization of the foundation
• The trustees of a charitable trust in bringing the outdated trust, with historically antiquated, impermissible grant-making categories, into compliance with Illinois and Indiana non-discrimination rules; obtained court reorganization of the scope of grant-making authority to comply with federal and state non-discrimination regulations

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