Fiduciary Misconduct

Keystone represented a client in her 70s who unknowingly created an irrevocable trust while overly medicated by her son. After being appointed trustee, the son proceeded to abuse his role by misappropriating trust assets for personal gain, essentially leaving his elderly mother broke. At the initial hearing, Keystone’s probate attorneys persuaded the court to immediately suspend the son as trustee and replace him with a private professional fiduciary to serve as interim trustee. Ultimately, Keystone proved that their client had been unduly influenced by her son to execute a new trust that favored him. As a result, the trust was invalidated and the client regained control of her assets. Read full case study.

Keystone’s client was the sister of a decedent. She came to the firm for help getting appointed as the administrator of his estate, which was valued at $50 million. Keystone was successful in obtaining for its client an appointment as administrator; however, further litigation would be needed, as the client found evidence to suggest her brother had been financially abused toward the end of his life by two pseudo-caregivers. The abusers had taken advantage of the decedent’s compromised mental state to steal valuables from his home and siphon money from his financial accounts using power of attorney documents. Ultimately, the Keystone tram was able to help the estate secure the return of more than $2 million in stolen money and property from the decedent’s abusers, as well as obtain a judgment for an additional $1 million. Read full case study.

Keystone’s client had been disinherited from his father and late mother’s trust through a series of trust amendments. This fact had come to light after the client noticed that the trust’s most valuable property had been encumbered by unnecessary loans. Once Keystone got involved in the matter, a clearer picture formed. While the client’s father was the official trustee of the trust, it was actually the client’s brother who was controlling the trust’s assets, i.e., he was acting as the de facto trustee. Not only had the brother unduly influenced the father to disinherit the client, but he was also using trust assets to fund his family’s lavish lifestyle. Ultimately, after demonstrating how the brother, as de facto trustee, harmed the trust, Keystone was able to have him removed and replaced with a private professional fiduciary. Additionally, the firm was able to have the amendments disinheriting its client invalidated, as well as secure for the client a settlement in which he became the free-and-clear owner of the trust’s most valuable real property. Read full case study.

Keystone’s clients had been disinherited from their grandmother’s trust after her estranged son levied false allegations of elder abuse against them and used those allegations to secure a temporary conservatorship over his mother. Three days before she died, the son took her to his own estate planning attorney to execute a new trust that disinherited her grandchildren and named him as the trust’s sole beneficiary. Keystone’s probate attorneys successfully argued that not only had the son’s elder abuse allegations been falsified, but that the decedent lacked the capacity to execute a new trust when she did, Ultimately, Keystone secured for its clients a favorable settlement in which they received the majority of the decedent’s assets. Read full case study.

Keystone’s client was the decedent’s closest living heir, which is why it seemed odd to him that the sole beneficiary of the decedent’s estate plan was the decedent’s caregiver and former financial adviser. He suspected that the caregiver had engaged in misconduct to make the decedent favor her in his estate plan. Upon investigating, Keystone learned that the caregiver had the decedent allegedly sign multiple estate planning documents when he ostensibly lacked the mental competence to do so. Ultimately, Keystone reached a favorable settlement for its client that allowed the client to recover a significant share of the decedent’s assets. (Read full case study.)