Stradling Attorneys Secure Family Member’s Control of Trusteeship

Our team successfully represented a family member in her petition to be appointed successor trustee of a family trust, as well as her opposition to a counter petition by an institutional trust company for control of the family trusteeship. Following the death of the first trustee, the decedent’s representatives failed to provide notice to our client and erroneously contacted the institutional trust company to fill the vacancy. The institutional trust company accepted the trusteeship over our client’s objections, immediately filed a petition to force a sale of the family home and, thereafter, refused to cede control of the trust to our client. Following our discovery and submission of briefs and evidence, the institutional trust company voluntarily resigned as successor trustee before the hearing on our petition, and our client has been appointed the successor trustee.