Kentucky Supreme Court Rules Trustee Disclosure Proper

“The Kentucky Supreme Court . . . is raising eyebrows with a recent ruling that says the bank trustee of a living trust was right to tell a group of charities they had been cut from an elderly woman’s will.”  See Dale Arden, GETTING PERSONAL: Living Trusts Can Offer Up Secrets, The Wall Street Journal, May 13, 2009, discussing JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. v. Longmeyer, 2005-SC-000313-DG, Feb. 17, 2009.

The disclosure prompted lawsuits from the disinherited, and presumably somewhat disgruntled, beneficiaries.  While the ruling raises some interesting questions, it reinforces the need to address privacy issues when creating a living trust or a will.

For a brief discussion of the debatable implications of this ruling as a trend and the underlying issue of the nature of a living trust, see the full article.