Trust Litigation

New York Trust Litigation Attorneys

The trust litigation attorneys at the Manhattan estate litigation law firm of GREENFIELD STEIN & SENIOR, LLP, have advocated on behalf of challengers and defenders in trust litigation cases in Surrogate's Courts throughout the state of New York.

Founded in 1930 to provide quality legal representation in complex cases along with personalized service from knowledgeable lawyers, GREENFIELD STEIN & SENIOR, LLP, is well known as a leader in the area of complex estate litigation, including trust litigation. Contact our Manhattan trust litigation lawyers to schedule a consultation.

Challenging or Defending a Trust

Any type of trust may be contested: a living trust, an irrevocable trust, a special needs trust, a Medicare trust, a charitable trust, and so forth. A trust may be challenged in its construction or in its administration.

Trust litigation that challenges the construction of a trust requires the challenger to prove one of the following grounds (these grounds are the same as for challenging the validity of a will):

• The settlor (the person who created and funded the trust) was not mentally competent when the trust was drafted.
• The settlor was unduly influenced by someone who would benefit from the terms of the contested trust. Undue influence could be the case, for example, if a charitable organization threatened to expose potentially illegal activities of a board member unless that board member created a charitable trust naming the organization as beneficiary.
• The contested trust is invalid because it was improperly written. A trust may be improperly drafted if it fails to comply with all the strict requirements for the specific type of trust. For example, if a Medicare trust fails to comply with federal law regulating such trusts, it is vulnerable to a challenge for being improperly written.
• The trust is invalid because it was improperly executed. In other words, the trust was not signed and witnessed according to the strict formalities required for it to be valid and binding.
• The trust is a forgery. Trusts that are not written by a lawyer, while they may be valid, are at particular risk for charges of forgery.

If the challenge is successful, the trust will be invalidated.

Trust litigation also arises when a beneficiary disputes the trustee's actions with regard to management of the trust. Common examples of trust litigation challenging the trustee's actions are:

• The trustee has breached his or her fiduciary duty through negligent administration or self-dealing
• The trustee has abused the discretion granted by the trust in failing to distribute the principal or refusing to make specific payouts

Trust litigation of this kind may take the form of fiduciary litigation, fiduciary removal proceedings, or accounting proceedings.