Just one month after attorney Lester S. Schwartz was appointed the Wellin Family 2009 Irrevocable Trust’s trust protector, the trust assets were liquidated and he filed a complaint in probate court against the trust beneficiaries. In addition to moving the case to a U.S. District Court in South Carolina, the beneficiaries removed Schwartz as trust protector, which was allowed under the trust. Three days after Schwartz was removed there was no new trust protector, which was also required by the trust terms. Schwartz appointed a replacement trust protector who then attempted to take over the legal action he had started. The beneficiaries claimed the action was invalid, because Schwartz could not appoint a new trust protector after he had been removed.
In Schwartz v. Wellin, the court held that the appointment of the new trust protector was valid because the beneficiaries’ attempt to remov Schwartz as trust protector without replacing him was invalid due to the need for a trust protector at all times as required by the trust.
See Jin Park, When Trust Protector Removed Without Valid Procedure, Removed Trust Protector’s Appointment of New Trustee Held Valid – Court Held, Wealth Strategies Journal, Nov. 29, 2014.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.
