A recent post here discussed how Minnesota courts will interpret a confusing trust document. Basically, the goal is always to carry out the wishes of the person who created the trust. Of course, figuring out what exactly those wishes are is often the challenge.
In this respect, our law firm has both defended trustees and represented those who are seeking to have a trustee relieved of assigned responsibilities. One of the grounds for replacing a trustee is that the current trustee is insisting on an interpretation of the trust document that is not correct. We have experiencing defending a trustee’s interpretation of the document creating the trust, and we also have experiencing convincing a Minnesota court that the trustee has not read the document correctly.
Of course, this experience requires our law firm to put to practical use our experience with reading and interpreting complicated trusts. Our practice also requires practical insight in to how a particular court might view a document so that we can prepare our client’s case accordingly.
Moreover, disputes over how to interpret a trust are only one of the types of fiduciary issues our law firm handles. For example, our firm has also sought the removal of, and defended, trustees who are accused of not investing trust funds prudently, charging too much for their administrative services or playing favorites with one group of beneficiaries to the detriment of another group.
Any kind of trust dispute can prove to be a complex legal matter. The Fiduciary Litigation section of our website has additional information for those who need legal help with a trust dispute.