Our firm’s comprehensive estate planning practice requires the support of a team of litigators with experience handling a wide variety of matters related to wills, trusts and estates. Commercial litigators often work with members of the estate planning group thereby achieving efficiencies through a team approach.
Overview
Our commercial litigators represent fiduciaries such as executors and trustees as well as individual beneficiaries, heirs and others in disputes involving wills and trusts, breach of fiduciary duties, claims for accounting and will contests based on undue influence or lack of capacity.
Some current or recent matters handled by team members include:
- We represent the settlor of a multi-million dollar, nongrantor charitable lead annuity trust suing to revoke a donation of a remainder interest in the trust on the basis of ingratitude. In re: The Peroxisome Trust, No. 2015-4582, 14th JDC.
- We represented a co-trustee of a charitable foundation who sued a co-trustee of a nongrantor charitable lead annuity trust for failing to make mandatory distributions to the foundation. The Eastern District of Louisiana granted summary judgment in favor of our client, finding that the defendant had breached his fiduciary and trust duties and ordered that the distributions be made. The Fifth Circuit upheld the decision on appeal. Cook v. Marshall, No. 17-5368, Eastern District of Louisiana.
