Representative Matters, Litigation, Litigation Trust, Estate & Fiduciary

The firm is experienced in managing estate situations where the principal asset is an interest in a closely held or family business. For example, the firm represented the widow of an individual who co-owned a business with a sibling. When the surviving sibling failed to allow the decedent’s family to have any further involvement in the business, refused to pay any dividends, and attempted to force the sale of the deceased sibling’s shares to herself at a deeply discounted price, the firm stepped in to seek an equitable resolution. The matter involved complex valuation issues, disputes over a shareholder agreement, issues involving oral promises for compensation, as well as other possible commitments made by the family business.
The firm represented a bank fiduciary in the estate of a decedent who had invited several new shareholders into the business but had not completed the transaction before he died. At the time the firm became involved, the estate was being directed toward a sale of the business to those employees at a less than market price. The firm caused the estate to seek an independent, arms length buyer for the business. The firm defended multiple lawsuits and closed two sale transactions while realizing three times the value that would have been realized on the initially proposed transaction.
The firm represented the only child of a decedent whose finances had been taken over by the elderly man’s second wife after he became incompetent. In the last several years of the decedent's life, a substantial amount of assets were transferred from the elderly man’s individual accounts into accounts in joint tenancy with the second wife. Under the estate plan, the child of the first wife was supposed to share in the estate, but under joint tenancy the child would get nothing. The firm was successful in freezing the joint tenancy assets, and securing a settlement which included the transfer of significant assets to the decedent's estate, and subsequently the daughter. The settlement also resulted in assets being transferred to a private foundation established by the decedent for charitable giving.
The firm was engaged by a corporate fiduciary after another law firm had already filed a lawsuit in the name of the fiduciary, had lost the case, and had let the appeal time expire. The firm developed a strategy to resurrect a long-dissolved Delaware corporation and filed a brand new action for that corporation, rather than for the trust, which owned the corporation. The firm survived three motions to dismiss, after which the case was settled on favorable terms.



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	back to >> Litigation page >> Representative Matters Litigation Trust, Estate & Fiduciary The firm is experienced in managing estate situations where the principal asset is an interest in a closely held or family business. For example, the firm represented the widow of an individual who co-owned a business with a sibling. When the surviving sibling failed to allow the decedent’s family to have any further involvement in the business, refused to pay any dividends, and attempted to force the sale of the deceased sibling’s shares to herself at a deeply discounted price, the firm stepped in to seek an equitable resolution. The matter involved complex valuation issues, disputes over a shareholder agreement, issues involving oral promises for compensation, as well as other possible commitments made by the family business. The firm represented a bank fiduciary in the estate of a decedent who had invited several new shareholders into the business but had not completed the transaction before he died. At the time the firm became involved, the estate was being directed toward a sale of the business to those employees at a less than market price. The firm caused the estate to seek an independent, arms length buyer for the business. The firm defended multiple lawsuits and closed two sale transactions while realizing three times the value that would have been realized on the initially proposed transaction. The firm represented the only child of a decedent whose finances had been taken over by the elderly man’s second wife after he became incompetent. In the last several years of the decedent's life, a substantial amount of assets were transferred from the elderly man’s individual accounts into accounts in joint tenancy with the second wife. Under the estate plan, the child of the first wife was supposed to share in the estate, but under joint tenancy the child would get nothing. The firm was successful in freezing the joint tenancy assets, and securing a settlement which included the transfer of significant assets to the decedent's estate, and subsequently the daughter. The settlement also resulted in assets being transferred to a private foundation established by the decedent for charitable giving. The firm was engaged by a corporate fiduciary after another law firm had already filed a lawsuit in the name of the fiduciary, had lost the case, and had let the appeal time expire. The firm developed a strategy to resurrect a long-dissolved Delaware corporation and filed a brand new action for that corporation, rather than for the trust, which owned the corporation. The firm survived three motions to dismiss, after which the case was settled on favorable terms.



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