A new federal case with reliance on the Princess Lida doctrine dismisses a federal trust dispute whilst a pending trust dispute resides in state court. In Genovese v. Genovese, the decedent created a testamentary trust for his two children, one of which was a plaintiff for this case. The trust named the decedent’s father as trustee. After various disputes, the plaintiff filed suit in federal court against the trustee, bringing four counts. The defendants moved to dismiss the first two counts, arguing that because the state court had already taken jurisdiction over the trusts, the federal court could not subsequently take concurrent jurisdiction over those same trusts. The Princess Lida doctrine supports this argument by preventing a federal court from taking such jurisdiction. The rule, however, only applies if the federal action is in rem versus in personam. Accordingly, the court ended up dismissing both counts; however, count II was dismissed for other reasons based on an in personam contract, which restricts the Princess Lida doctrine.
See Jeffrey Skatoff, Federal Court Dismisses Trust Dispute with Pending State Court Trust Dispute, Florida Probate Lawyers, September 19, 2016.
