Sarah Eberspacher, Charles Jacob III, Marshall Senterfitt, & Mark Swirbalus of Goulston & Storrs PC, have made available for download their article, “Probate & Fiduciary Litigation Newsletter – September & October 2021”, published in JDSUPRA. The abstract begins as follows:
If the decedent trust beneficiary is a New York resident at the time of death, does the New York Surrogate’s Court have jurisdiction over the trustee? In Matter of Murad Irrevocable Trust, the Appellate Division applied traditional due process analysis to answer that question in the negative.
In the petition, the executor of the beneficiary of the trust (decedent) sought an accounting and removal of respondent, a Virginia resident, as trustee. At the time the trust was created in 1996, decedent was a resident of Illinois and the trustee was a resident of Georgia. The trustee administered the trust from Georgia until he relocated to Virginia, and he administered the trust from Virginia thereafter. Decedent relocated to New York in 2016. The trustee sent her in New York occasional trust-related correspondence, including “five or six” checks disbursing trust assets. The trustee moved to dismiss the petition for lack of personal jurisdiction; the Surrogate denied the motion, finding personal jurisdiction.
Posted by Anthony Tran, Associate Editor, Wealth Strategies Journal
Wealth Strategies Journal 