Trust Litigation

Even with thoughtful estate planning and carefully crafted trusts, the transfer and subsequent management of trust assets creates the very real prospect of disputes. The litigation that may result is often contentious and costly due to the fact that issues relating to how the assets of large estates were invested, reinvested, acquired, or disbursed are often extremely complicated and beyond the normal scope of a traditional litigation or trust and estates attorney. Choosing the appropriate legal counsel requires careful consideration.

Ellis Lawhorne offers clients a multi-disciplinary approach to trust litigation that brings together the knowledge, skills, and combined experience of seasoned litigation and trust and estates attorneys with extensive backgrounds in:

·        Estate and gift tax planning
·        Will and trust preparation
·        Asset transfers
·        Asset protection strategies
·        Family partnerships
·        Disputes involving closely held companies
·        Investment fraud
·        Breach of fiduciary duty
·        Individual and corporate litigation
·        Complex negotiation/mediation

Combining these intellectual assets results in legal counsel that is better prepared to identify, analyze, and address the many facets of complex trust litigation such as breach of contract, action in tort, action in equity, and declaratory judgments encompassing statutory and common law fiduciary duty. It is an approach that brings clarity to complexity, and in so doing, leads to a successful resolution of the matters in question.

Those who would benefit from our services:

·        Bank trust departments
·        Individual trustees
·        Institutional trust companies
·        Certified public accountants
·        Personal financial planners