In December, Prather Ebner Wilson Partner Ray Prather joined the ACTEC Trust & Estate Talk podcast to share his views on one specific area: trust agreement clauses, specifically in cases of beneficiary conflicts. He was joined by ACTEC fellows Margaret G. Lodise and Eric W. Penzer, and host Connie Eyester.

During the episode, “How Typical Trust Agreement Clauses Can Get Turned Around in the Real World,” Ray notes that most of these conflicts begin as a dispute over receiving information, particularly when one beneficiary wants to know how the trust is being used by another beneficiary. “I’ve often found that it becomes a highly contested issue when one of the beneficiaries is also the trustee of the trust,” he says.

Ray then explores a Massachusetts case, Schwalm v. Schwalm, in which a decedent’s children wanted to know how their stepmother was using the trust they eventually would receive. “The takeaway from the Schwalm case is estate planners should always [discuss communication] with their clients and how much information should the presumptive remainder beneficiaries receive about trust.” Putting these expectations in writing helps avoid legal disputes down the road.

Read the full transcript and listen to the episode on the ACTEC website.

A partner at Prather Ebner Wilson LLP, Ray advises clients on a wide array of issues related to administering and resolving challenges to estate plans. He represents individual and professional trustees, beneficiaries of trusts and estates, and tax-exempt organizations.