David F. Johnson ‘s recent article “The More the Merrier? Issues Arising from Co-Trustees Administering Trusts” was published in the Texas Tech Estate Planning and Community Property Law Journal. The article addresses the benefits and detriments of appointing co-trustees, who can be a co-trustee and succession issues, fiduciary duties of co-trustees to beneficiaries and each
David F. Johnson co-presented with Zachary S. Davis from Stoel Rives LLP, in Portland, Oregon, on “Limitation of Liability Clauses in Business Contracts: Limiting Potential Damages and Avoiding Pitfalls” on January 31, 2023, for national CLE provider Strafford. This CLE webinar was intended to guide business counsel and owners to draft and negotiate appropriate limitation
David F. Johnson presented “Advising Trustees Who Manage Closely-Held Business Interest” to the WealthCounsel webinar on June 30, 2022.
Continue Reading Presentation: Advising Trustees Who Manage Closely-Held Business Interests
Shareholder David F. Johnson will address the various issues that arise when a trustee enters into a self-interested transaction with the trust. Among other issues, it will address the duty of loyalty, the presumption of unfairness, trustee compensation, non-compensation benefits, exculpatory clauses, consent/release agreements, and procedural issues in litigating self-interested transactions.
David F. Johnson co-presented “Minority Investor Rights in Private Companies: Buy-Sell Agreements, Court-Ordered Buyouts, Breach of Fiduciary Duty” for a nationwide audience for Stafford Webinars on January 20, 2021. David was honored to present with Peter A. Mahler and Peter J. Sluka from Farrell Fritz, PC from New York. The presenters discussed the rights of
David F. Johnson presented his paper “Litigating Self-Interested Transactions Involving Fiduciaries” to the State Bar of Texas’s Fiduciary Litigation Course on December 2-3, 2021, in San Antonio, Texas. This presentation discussed a fiduciary’s duty of loyalty, the right to compensation and other benefits, the concept of self-interested transactions, the presumption of unfairness that attaches to
David F. Johnson presented “Trust Issues In Divorce Proceedings” on November 17, 2021. This presentation covered trust issues that arise in divorce disputes, such as spouses creating an irrevocable trust, fraud claims to void a trust, conflict of interest issues raised by the same attorney drafting both spouse’s estate/trust documents, characterization of trust assets and
David F. Johnson presented “Trustee’s Obligation to Inform Beneficiaries: Avoiding Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claims” to a national audience on November 16, 2021, via Strafford publishing with his co-presenter Scott E. Rahn, founder of RMO LLP. A critical obligation for trustees of irrevocable trusts is the duty to inform beneficiaries of the trust’s existence and
David will cover recent statutory changes and case law updates. He will discuss extending the rule against perpetuities, de jure versus de facto status as trustee, modifications to trusts, trust construction, temporary injunctions against trustees, trustee authority to sell real estate, trust management of closely held businesses, co-trustee management, exculpatory clauses, acceptance-of-the-benefits doctrine, will reformation
David F. Johnson co-presented “Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claims Against Trustees/Managers of Closely Held Businesses” with Kenneth J. Fair from Wright, Close & Barger LLP to the AFHE (Attorneys For Family-Held Enterprises) Fall Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, on November 29, 2021. This presentation discussed how and why trusts own closely held business interests, trustee’s duties