Spring Happenings In Trusts and Estates

August 01, 2022

The spring season saw multiple decisions of interest to the trusts and estates practitioner. Addressed to such issues as breach of fiduciary duty, powers of attorney, and gifts, these opinions are discussed in this month’s article.

Fiduciary Held Liable for Failing To Invest Estate Funds. In In re Maloy, 2022 NY Slip Op 22100 (Sur. Ct. Monroe County), the three contingent remainder beneficiaries of a trust created under their mother’s will, instituted a proceeding seeking to hold the executor of the estate liable for breach of fiduciary duty for allowing the estate funds to remain uninvested in an account that should have been turned over to the trustee of the trust.

The petition requested damages equal to what the account would have earned had it been invested plus statutory interest. The executor filed an answer with affirmative defenses claiming among other things that he had dementia at the time he was appointed which worsened, and as such he could not function as executor. Petitioners moved for summary judgment granting them the relief requested in the petition, and dismissing the affirmative defenses.

Ilene Sherwyn Cooper is a partner with Farrell Fritz, P.C. in Uniondale, where she concentrates in the area of trusts and estates.

Reprinted with permission from New York Law Journal, Monday, August 1, 2022, Vol 268 – No. 22. 

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