New Case: Matter of Svenningsen

A husband and his wife had five birth children and one adopted child, a daughter.  The husband created two lifetime trusts, one for the benefit of his “children” who were defined as his then four living birth children, identified by name, and “any additional children born to or adopted by” the husband after creation of the trust, and the other for all six then living children who were identified by name.  His will created testamentary trusts the beneficiaries of which included children “legally adopted” at the date of his death.  After his death, his widow surrendered her parental rights to her adopted daughter so that she could be adopted by another couple.  The child’s adoptive parents then petitioned for compulsory accountings in the lifetime and testamentary trusts on the grounds that the child was a beneficiary of all of the trusts created by the husband.

In Matter of Svenningsen, the surrogate court held that a child adopted after a parent’s death is still a beneficiary of the parent’s trusts. The court ordered the trustees to account and the intermediate appellate court affirmed, holding that under the language of the various trusts, the child was either mentioned by name or included in the definition of children and that her subsequently being adopted out of the family was irrelevant.

See Matter of Svenningsen, 959 N.Y.S.2d 237 (N.Y. App. Div. 2013).