David F. Johnson, lead writer for The Fiduciary Litigator blog, presents the potential ramifications of a trustee’s intentional breach of fiduciary duty. His presentation covers the Texas Trust Code provisions (including removal, damages, attorney’s fees, receiverships, injunctions, and exculpatory clauses), fee forfeiture, disgorgement, punitive damages, and criminal statutes.
Who should
The Texas Legislatures recently passed a bill that takes effect on September 1, 2021 that extends the rule against perpetuities to 300 years for trusts. The Legislature forwarded the bill (HB 654) to the governor on May 20, 2021, but he has not yet signed the bill into law. But unless he vetoes the bill, it will become law after ten days.
The Texas Constitution prohibits perpetuities: “Perpetuities and monopolies are contrary to the genius of a free government, and shall never be allowed . . . .” Tex. Const. art. I, § 26. A perpetuity is a restriction on the power of alienation that lasts longer than a prescribed period. ConocoPhillips Co. v. Koopmann, 547 S.W.3d 858, 866-67 (Tex. 2018). The rule against perpetuities “should be a check on vain, capricious action by wealthy empire builders. But it should not be a constantly present threat to reasonable dispositions which slightly overstep a technical line.” Rekdahl v. Long, Tex., 417 S.W.2d 387 (1967) (Steakley, J., dissenting) (citing W. B. Leach & O. Tudor, The Rule Against Perpetuities § 24.11 at 43 (1957)).
Join us for a webinar focused on issues that impact trust administration in Texas. David Johnson, lead writer for Texas Fiduciary Litigator, will address the duty to disclose to remote beneficiaries, sharing information from the Texas Trust Code, common law, treatises, and recent cases to provide best practices for
In Gonzalez v. De Leon, two sisters (Josefina and Delfina), as part of a family estate plan, transferred certain real property to a limited partnership, formed other limited partnerships to manage and develop the property, and formed a limited liability company to act as general partner of the limited
In Estate of Benson, a beneficiary of a trust sought to remove the trustee, her father, for allegedly violating his fiduciary duties in administering the trust assets. No. 04-15-00087-CV, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 9477 (Tex. App.—San Antonio Sept. 9, 2015, no pet. h.). The trustee’s relationship with the beneficiary
In Tolar v. Tolar, a husband and wife executed a trust in 2006 that named them as trustees and their children and husband’s children from a previous marriage as beneficiaries. No. 12-14-00228-CV, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 5119 (Tex. App.—Tyler May 20, 2015, no pet. hist). The trust had an