In In re Pitts, the parties in a case settled and had a special needs trust drafted. No. 05-22-00542-CV, 2022 Tex. App. LEXIS 4143 (Tex. App.—Dallas June 16, 2022, original proceeding). The trial court entered a different trust. The parties filed a petition for writ of mandamus challenging the trust entered by the trial court. The court of appeals denied the mandamus because the parties never requested that the trial court enter the trust that they drafted:
Appellate Court Affirmed Receivership Order Where Appellant Waived His Complaints By Not Securing Rulings And By Not Challenging All Potential Grounds Upon Which The Order Was Based
In In re Estate of Vines, a probate court appointed a receiver over a business that was owned by a decedent. No. 01-21-00003-CV, 2022 Tex. App. LEXIS 2327 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] April 12, 2022, no pet. history). After the decedent died, her grandchildren challenged a new will and other documents that were executed by their grandmother in favor of the grandmother’s nephew. The trial court appointed a temporary administrator and later appointed a receiver over a business that was owned by the grandmother, but that was now controlled by the nephew. The nephew appealed the receivership order on multiple grounds.
Business Divorce: Court Found That There Was A Fact Question On Whether Officers Violated Fiduciary Duties By Obtaining A Side Bonus From A Purchaser When Negotiating A Sale Of The Company’s Assets
A business divorce may mean that the owners need to sell the business or the business’s assets. In the following case, some of the owners/officers took advantage of a sale transaction to benefit from that transaction at the expense of their co-owners. In Rex Performance Prods., LLC v. Tate, a company sued its former officers for breaching fiduciary duties related to the sale of the company’s assets. No. 02-20-00009-CV, 2020 Tex. App. LEXIS 10465 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth December 31, 2020, no pet.). The company alleged that the officers intentionally drove down the price of the sale in order to obtain a separate bonus from the buyer. The defendants alleged that the plaintiff knew of the side bonus agreement and consummated the transaction anyway, thereby establishing a waiver or ratification. The trial court granted summary judgment for the defendants, and the plaintiff appealed.
Use Of Equitable Defenses In Breach Of Fiduciary Duty Litigation
A. Introduction
It is not uncommon for beneficiaries to sue a trustee for actions that the beneficiaries had knowledge of but where they failed to object to that conduct for a period of time. In this circumstance, the trustee may want to raise certain equitable defenses to those claims, such as laches, ratification, waiver, and estoppel. Equitable defenses are appropriate for breach of fiduciary duty claims as fiduciary relationships originate in equity. At the core of these equitable defenses is the concept that a party should not be allowed to act inconsistently: have knowledge of conduct and fail to object to it for a period of time (thereby tacitly agreeing to the conduct) and then later raising claims against the trustee for the same conduct.
Court Holds That Will Contestant Was Not Estopped From Challenging The Will Due To Accepting Assets
In In the Estate of Johnson, a decedent’s daughter filed a will contest after accepting over $146,000 from the estate. No. 05-18-01193-CV, 2019 Tex. App. LEXIS 9646 (Tex. App.—Dallas November 4, 2019, no pet.). The executrix filed a motion in limine challenging the daughter’s standing and asked the trial court to dismiss the will contest, which the trial court did. The daughter appealed.
The court of appeals first addressed whether the daughter had standing to file a will contest. The court held that “[d]evisees and heirs-at-law are interested persons.” Id. (citing Tex. Est. Code § 20.018). The court concluded:
Though Lisa Jo claims that Tia did not meet this burden because she failed to introduce the Will into evidence with her petition, we assume the trial court took judicial notice of the Will and its contents, as well as the inventory, which was in the trial court’s files. Because the face of the Will established Tia’s standing as a devisee and an heir-at-law, Tia satisfied her threshold burden.
Id. The court then reviewed the estoppel defense arising from the daughter’s acceptance of estate assets. The court reviewed the law and its own precedent on estoppel in this context:
Don’t Try It Yourself, Hire A Lawyer! Court Dismisses Pro Se Party’s Appeal Due To Procedural Errors
In In re Newman, a woman appealed a trial court’s order regarding admitting her husband’s will and the conduct of her step-son as executor. No. 04-17-00209-CV, 2018 Tex. App. LEXIS 4249 (Tex. App.—San Antonio June 13, 2018, no pet. history). She made the mistake of representing herself in the
Courts Hold That Fiduciaries Waived Complaints About Trial Court Orders
In In re Estate of Roach, a trial court removed an executor for multiple grounds, including: (1) Texas Estates Code Section 404.0035(b)(5), which authorizes removal when an independent executor becomes incapable of properly performing his fiduciary duties due to a material conflict of interest, and (2) Section 404.0035(b)(3), which
Court Affirmed Summary Judgment For Defendant/Attorney Regarding A Breach Of Fiduciary Duty Claim Arising From A Conflict of Interest
In Macias v. Gomez, a client sued his attorney for breach of fiduciary duty arising from the attorney’s trust later suing the client. No. 13-14-00017-CV, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 12967 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi December 29, 2015, no pet. history). The client paid the attorney by transferring a one percent