Estate Planning, Probate & Elder Law Attorneys

» Fundamentals fine, but bailout essential

» Jurisdiction in Probate

I remember very little about my law school jurisdiction class (other than the fact that my professor, who looked like a Teutonic version of Queen lead singer Freddy Mercury, wore the world's tightest jeans).

But jurisdictional questions do arise in the probate context. Often these issues have to be resolved by the court sua sponte (on its own, without motion from either party), since a party may not even have standing to present an argument. In re. Estate of Hoch v. Hoch (a 4th district Appellate Court case, available as a PDF here) is such a case, in which an Illinois court dismissed an Illinois probate (vacating its own order admitting the decedent's Will to probate) because a probate had already been initiated in Louisiana.

» “Child Reduction Act” Trailer
The year is 2016. The President signs the Child Reduction Act. Families with more than one child under the age of 18, must pay a multiple child tax. Families unable to afford the tax, must send their extra children to the CHILD CONSERVATION CAMPS. The Pearce family has two teenage children - and can only [...]

» A Whale of a Short-Selling Tale
Protection from shorts goes far beyond the original intention.

» Trusts, Corporate Fiduciaries, and the Bailout

This is a pretty interesting Wall Street Journal article about the ramifications of the bailout and Great Depression 2.0 for individuals with trust accounts at affected institutions. I’m less interested in how trust assets are being or should be invested in this market (very carefully? no freaking duh) than I am in the issue of what happens if your corporate trustee folds, or is bought out.

Let me be candid – I don’t know why anyone would have an entity like Merrill Lynch as their corporate trustee in the first place. You may have a nice relationship with your broker, but your account is inevitably foisted off on someone else. In my experience, that "someone else" is going to be a recent college grad who doesn't know anything about anything regarding the administration of trusts.

One happy consequence of this financial turmoil might be a return to smaller banks, which – surprise surprise! – have people who know you and provide actual customer service. I can stand in line or go through the drive-thru to make a business deposit at Chase, and it takes me 20 frustrating, alienating minutes. Or I can go see my man Emil at Community Bank Oak Park River Forest, and make my deposit in 2 fast, friendly minutes. Do you really think it’s going to be any different if you use Chase as your corporate trustee?

On a similar note, I recently became aware (thanks to Todd Schneider) of this post by Juan C. Antunez from last year. The case involves a $1 million malpractice verdict against the firm of Gunster Yoakley. The court said:

The substance of these accusations was that Gunster Yoakley wrongfully procured J.P. Morgan's appointment as corporate fiduciary and caused the estate administration to be more expensive.

I discussed conflicts of interest and referrals here. It really is a tricky business. Let me give an example: I have a good relationship with a broker at Edward Jones. In fact, after being impressed with him and his company while working on matters for some mutual clients, I switched all of my investments to him. He's been my broker for about 10 years now. He refers me some business. What if a client comes to me and says, "Do you recommend a corporate trustee? And, if so, which one?" Can I recommend Edward Jones? What must I tell my client?