Nusinov Smith attorneys are known throughout Maryland as the most experienced and skilled litigators in matters involving and arising out of estates, trusts and other fiduciary relationships. Examples of typical disputes encountered in these areas include the following:
Will Contests:
Prosecuting and defending challenges to the validity of a Will or Codicil. Typically, contesting a Will involves claims of undue influence, lack of testamentary capacity, fraud or forgery. Such matters may also include improper Will execution, superseding Wills, and failure to comply with the formalities of Will drafting and attestation.
Removal of Personal Representatives and Trustees:
Prosecuting and defending personal representatives and trustees accused of breaching fiduciary duties, including, among other things, favoring certain beneficiaries, failing to discharge duties and powers effectively, violating rules against self-dealing, misappropriating assets, disregarding an order of the Court, mismanaging property, failing to perform a material duty, and failing to account. Nusinov Smith regularly represents personal representatives, trustees and beneficiaries in matters involving such claims, and has experience litigating such issues through trial.
Breach of Fiduciary Duties:
A fiduciary is a person or entity in a position of trust and responsibility over another’s assets. Being a fiduciary includes duties to act in the best interest of the other party. Fiduciaries include agents under a power of attorney, personal representatives, trustees, guardians, and attorneys. Claims involving fiduciary duties often involve fiduciaries putting their own interests above those of the beneficiaries, comingling assets, breaching duties of loyalty, failing to provide information, operating while subject to conflicts of interests, and failing to properly manage and distribute assets. Remedies for breaches of fiduciary duties often include removal as a fiduciary and surcharge in the amount of the resulting harm.
Will and Trust Construction and Interpretation:
Petitioning the Court is sometimes necessary to determine the legal meaning of a term or provision in a Will or Trust. The dispute may involve determining the meaning of the documents based entirely on the language as written, or, in the event of ambiguity, external evidence of witnesses and other documents may assist in establishing the proper meaning. Experience is these areas is a critical component of being able to present to the Court why certain clauses are included and how the meaning may impact the administration of assets and fulfilling the decedent’s intent.
The above are only a few areas in which Nusinov Smith attorneys regularly practice. Disputes that arise in the context of estates, trusts and fiduciary relationships are often unique to the specific facts and may involve business and real property matters. The following are various successes by Nusinov Smith attorneys that evidence their breadth of experience in the field:
- Successfully obtained a settlement representing plaintiff in breach of fiduciary duty claims involving assets worth in excess of $400 million (2018)
- Obtained a multi-million dollar settlement of legal malpractice claims arising out of estate and trust duties and failures to protect a client from undue influence and fraud (2017)
- Successfully prosecuted claims on behalf of a national company and its owners against a former CEO for breach of fiduciary duties as an officer, director and trustee (2017)
- Obtained a settlement correcting wrongful and excessive distributions arising out of a misinterpretation of a multi-million dollar Trust (2017)
- Successfully defended a personal representative against removal and damages proceedings, settled at nuisance value (2017)
- Obtained summary judgment successfully defending a Last Will & Testament against claims of undue influence, lack of competence and fraud (2016)
- Successfully prosecuted claims of undue influence resulting in family regaining control of their father’s Estate and Trust (2016)
- Successfully defended co-trustees against petition to remove fiduciaries of a $50 million Trust; Court dismissed petition in total after trial on the merits (2016)
- Obtained settlement in excess of $1 million for child allegedly disinherited from mother’s estate (2016)
- Successfully defended special administrator through trial against petition to remove (2016)
- Successfully obtained summary judgment dismissal of all claims after three days of trial, including dismissing estate’s claims that an agent under the decedent’s power of attorney breached fiduciary duties (2016)
- Successfully defended beneficiary’s breach of contract claims arising out of a contingent inheritance (2016)
- Successfully defended a claim against marital rights; all claims dismissed on summary judgment (2015)
- Obtained successful ruling from the Orphans’ Court construing the Will’s tax provisions in an $86 million estate (2015)
- Successfully defended will caveat, resulting in a nuisance value settlement on the eve of trial (2015)
- Obtained dismissal of will caveat through enforcement of the void legacy doctrine, resulting in petitioner lacking standing (2015)
- Obtained summary judgment voiding Decedent’s purported quit claim deed on the basis of forgery (2015)
- Successfully prosecuted will caveat, resulting in confidential settlement favorably dividing a probate estate (2015)
- Successfully prosecuted claims to remove a trustee; resulted in trustee agreeing to resign on the eve of trial (2014)
- Successfully prosecuted claims related to an estate’s partnership interest; obtained a favorable settlement in an amount exceeding $1,000,000 (2014)
- Successfully defended an action to return non-probate real property to an estate; Court granted motion to dismiss all claims in their entirety (2014)
- Successfully defended a personal representative through trial; resulted in the Court’s dismissal of the action to remove the personal representative (2014)
- Represented a trustee in arbitration proceedings to allocate trust litigation attorneys’ fees (2013)
- Successfully defended undue influence litigation against trustees, obtaining summary judgment dismissal (2013)
- Prosecuted a will caveat, obtaining a favorable settlement through mediation (2013)
- Successfully defended petition to vacate Orphans’ Court Orders approving Administration Accounts (2013)
- Successfully defended a will caveat, obtaining a favorable settlement (2013)
- Successfully defended a will caveat, resulting in a nuisance-value settlement (2013)
- Obtained appointment of guardian of person and property after a four day contested trial in which the Court found good cause to bypass opposing party’s statutory priority (2013)
- Successfully defended a personal representative through trial on a petition to remove personal representative (2012)
- Successfully protected disabled adult from undue influence via guardianship and court-approved irrevocable trust (2012)
- Successfully prosecuted a will caveat and challenges of pre-death transfers of assets based on a family member’s undue influence and breach of fiduciary duties (2011)
- Obtained the removal of a personal representative of an estate (2011)
- Achieved dismissal of all claims by a beneficiary against co-trustees for breach of fiduciary duties (2011)
- Successfully defended a petition to remove personal representative and claims of breach of fiduciary duties (2011)
- Successfully prosecuted a will caveat in a multi-million dollar estate based on diminished capacity and undue influence, obtaining a settlement in excess of a million dollars (2010)
- Successfully prosecuted a will caveat based on lack of competence (2010)
- Successfully defended claims of breach of fiduciary duty by a power of attorney (2010)
- Successfully defended a will caveat through trial that resulted in dismissal of all claims in their entirety (2010)
- Successfully prosecuted a will caveat based on undue influence and lack of competence (2009)
- Obtained trial verdict revoking an irrevocable trust based on undue influence (2009)
- Achieved summary judgment granting an adopted-out child the right to inherit from a family trust (2009)
- Successfully prosecuted a will caveat based on undue influence and lack of competence, resulting in a settlement in excess of $300,000 (2008)
- Successfully defended estate litigation through trial, obtaining a dismissal of all claims by way of directed verdict (2008)
- Successfully defended will caveat and undue influence claims brought by family members against the decedent’s companion of several years (2008)
- Successfully prosecuted claim of contract to make a will (2007)
- Successfully prosecuted a will caveat based on a theory of monomania (2007)
- Successfully prosecuted fraud claims involving concealment of assets from an estate (2005)
- Successfully defended a will caveat in a multi-million dollar estate (2004)
