Business Litigation

Trust and Estate Litigation

Disputes over the meaning of the terms of a will or trust

We successfully represented a group of charitable institutions in a trust construction lawsuit pending in the Circuit Court for Jackson County, Missouri. The dispute involved the proper interpretation of a formula contained in the grantor's trust instrument concerning the method of funding various sub-trusts upon grantor's death. The trial court held that the trust should be construed to require funding of a sub-trust for the benefit of certain third parties, using assets that our clients maintained should instead be distributed to the charitable beneficiaries named in the trust.

On behalf of these charities, we appealed this decision to the Court of Appeals for the Western District of Missouri, which reversed the trial court and ruled that all the trust's assets should be distributed to our clients. This decision resulted in distributions of an additional $1 million among the charitable institutions.

• Defending a corporate trustee against claims it breached its fiduciary duty
• Action to set aside a trust or will
• Enforcement of contract to make a will
• Saving the family farm from being sold to pay estate expenses