breach of fiduciary duty claim against trustee

In Estate of Erwin, a husband died leaving some property to his wife and creating two trusts, naming his wife as the trustee and beneficiary with his children as remainder beneficiaries. No. 13-20-00301-CV, 2021 Tex. App. LEXIS 10160 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi December 29, 2021, no pet.). The wife commingled property and made other transfers of property. She then died, and one of her children became the successor administrator of the husband’s estate and the administrator of the mother’s estate.

In Marshall v. Marshall, a son, who was a trust beneficiary, sued his mother and brother alleging breaches of fiduciary duty and sought a declaratory judgment that they violated an in terrorem clause of the will. No. 14-18-00094-CV, No. 14-18-00095-CV, 2021 Tex. App. LEXIS 423 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] January 21, 2021, no pet. history). The mother had created a similar Wyoming trust and then merged the original Texas trust into the Wyoming trust. The beneficiaries were essentially the same, but there were administrative differences, including who the trustees and successor trustees were and the wording of the in terrorem clauses. The mother also had a lawsuit filed in Wyoming to approve all of these changes, but did not serve the plaintiff. The defendants filed motions to dismiss under the Texas Citizens Participation Act (“TCPA”), the trial court denied them, and they appealed.