DESCRIPTION
Family Feuds in Trust and Estate Planning: Counseling Clients About Dispute Avoidance
Family feuds are the most destructive force in trust and estate planning. When a senior generation of a family dies or decides to pull back from leading a family business, long suppressed rivalries, disputes and inter-personal conflicts rise to the surface and have often a substantially adverse impact on the business’s operations and value. These disputes often place planners in the extremely difficult spot of having gain the trust of warring factions, understand their grievances, and use the tools of planning to help them and the company find a value-preserving resolution of their conflicts. This program will provide you with a real-world guide to identifying and resolving family feuds in trusts.
- Sources of family feuds in trusts and techniques to resolve short of litigation·
- Disputes involving distributions, control of family assets, personal rivalries, lack of communication
- Techniques for resolution – outside consultants, ongoing family meetings, lifetime gifting, distribution standards
- How choosing trustees can provoke or dampen family disputes
- How to work with warring family factions while protecting yourself as lawyer
Speaker:
Steven B. Malech is partner in the New York City office of Wiggin and Dana, LLP, where he is chair of the firm’s probate litigation practice group. He represents beneficiaries, fiduciaries and creditors in disputes involving alleged violations of the Prudent Investor Act and its predecessors, alleged breaches of fiduciary duty, disputed accountings, and will contests. He represents clients in cutting edge probate litigation matters involving trusts and estates with assets in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Disclaimer: All views or opinions expressed by any presenter during the course of this CLE is that of the presenter alone and not an opinion of the Oklahoma Bar Association, the employers, or affiliates of the presenters unless specifically stated. Additionally, any materials, including the legal research, are the product of the individual contributor, not the Oklahoma Bar Association. The Oklahoma Bar Association makes no warranty, express or implied, relating to the accuracy or content of these materials.