Husband’s property transfer during marriage held fraudulent on wife’s marital rights

In Schoukroun v. Karsenty, No. 1689 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. Dec. 11, 2007), husband created a trust and designated his daughter from a previous marriage as its only beneficiary. He transferred three accounts into the trust immediately and thereafter designated the trust a beneficiary of two other accounts. These two accounts became transfer-on-death (TOD) accounts.

The court held that even if the husband did not act with fraudulent intent, his transfer of property during marriage constituted fraud on his wife’s marital rights because it was not complete, absolute, and unconditional. Therefore, the court decreed that the assets of the trust as well as the TOD accounts must be included in the husband’s estate for purposes of calculating the wife’s statutory share.

Special thanks to Matthew B. Bogin, Esq., for bringing this case to my attention.