June 18th, 2012

Some personal representatives take the position that they’ll either distribute all or none of the estate.  Other personal representatives are willing to make a partial distribution of estate assets only if each beneficiary gets an equal partial distribution.  Both situations can be maddening to a beneficiary who just wants to receive something from an estate rather than watch it sit in probate for years until there’s some liquidity.

Often, the personal representative’s justification for not making a partial distribution is illiquidity of estate assets.  Where real property is involved, the current real estate market compounds the problem of illiquid estate assets.  So, what’s a personal representative to do?  A recent opinion out of Missouri gives personal representatives in that state some guidance. (more…)

March 28th, 2012

Here’s an interesting case out of Missouri last week in which the court of appeals determined that the trial court flat out got the reasoning for its decision wrong, but nevertheless reached the correct result.  In Banks v. Central Trust and Investment Co., a party alleged that he just “found” an amendment to a trust and asked the court to determine its validity.  The trial court dismissed the case on the basis of judicial estoppel.  The court of appeals determined that judicial estoppel didn’t apply, but the trial court was still correct in dismissing the case.  Let’s see why. (more…)