beneficiary
Legendary musician Brian Wilson, co-founder of the Beach Boys, was recently placed under a conservatorship by a Los Angeles court. This decision comes more than three months after the passing of his wife Melinda, who served as his primary caregiver. Following Melinda’s death, the responsibility of caring for Brian has fallen on his longtime publicist…
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Famous TV doctor Mehmet Oz—better known as “Dr. Oz”—recently accused his sister, Nazlim, of forging their late father’s will and stealing millions from his estate. A 2008 will left all of Mustafa Oz’s assets to the Mustafa Oz Foundation, a United States organization, and left Dr. Oz in charge of the foundation; however, Nazlim presented a…
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ABC Seller agrees to sell 100 widgets to XYZ Buyer for $10 per widget. This agreement creates a contract, which largely governs the rights and obligations of ABC Seller and XYZ Buyer. However, contracts such as this often impact additional entities or individuals beyond the parties themselves. For example, ABC Seller may need to contract…
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Lately the term “non-disclosure agreements” (or “NDAs”) have inundated the news. These secretive agreements are now forefront in headlines about Stormy Daniels’ alleged affair with President Trump and Uber’s evolving corporate culture in response to claims of sexual harassment and discrimination. This has left many non-lawyers wondering: why do parties enter non-disclosure agreements and how…
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At common law, trustees had a fiduciary duty not to delegate tasks they can perform themselves. However, our current financial system’s increasing complexity makes it unreasonable for many trustees to manage trust assets on their own. The opportunities for investments are endless, and the sophistication of even basic financial instruments has increased since the creation…
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In Part 2 of this series, we examined trustees’ duties of loyalty and impartiality. This post will examine the duty to administer trusts prudently and Part 4 will discuss the duty to delegate – or not delegate – in more depth. The duty to administer trusts involves the basic values…
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As we’ve mentioned in part 1 of this series, trustees are fiduciaries and, as such, trustees owe a variety of fiduciary duties to multiple parties. These obligations include both the duty of loyalty and duty of impartiality, which we will discuss this week. To prove a trustee breached of one…
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This is the first of a four-part series examining trustee’s fiduciary duties and the circumstances that could result in litigation. To begin, we will discuss basic principles that will lay a groundwork to inform our larger discussion. What is a Trust and a Trustee?[1] …
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North Carolina joins four other states in providing a path to ensure decedents’ assets are distributed according to their wishes upon death.[1] The North Carolina General Assembly recently enacted legislation amending statutes regarding estate administration by adding a procedure for “living probate.” This action is usually commenced by a testator…
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Wills must meet several basic requirements to be valid and enforceable under state law. If any of the below factors are at work, then a will’s validity may be challenged. (1) Undue Influence Undue influence exists when a person uses coercion to influence the…
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