What Happens in a Trust Dispute?

Hi, I’m attorney Reed Bloodworth, Founder and CEO of Bloodworth Law,PLLC, in Orlando, Florida. Today I’m going to talk about what happens in a trust dispute.

Whether you’re a grantor who was affected by fraud, or a trustee accused of forging signatures, you have a couple of options when it comes to a trust dispute.

First, You Can Settle Out of Court

You can settle out of court if both parties can come to an agreement on the disputed issue. But trustees or beneficiaries can reject the agreement and instead take the matter to court.

Second, You Can File a Lawsuit

If the matter must be decided in court, a lawsuit can be filed in Florida’s Circuit or Probate court. There, attorneys provide the evidence and documents required for the court or jury to decide the issue.

What Actions Can a Plaintiff Pursue in Trust Litigation?

Within trust litigation, a plaintiff can pursue many different types of remedies. A few of these include:

• Having a trust declared void.
• A trust, or amendment thereto, can be declared void if it is proven that the trust was obtained by fraud, duress, mistake, or undue influence
• Trust Reformation
• The trust can be reformed to reflect the original intent of the person writing the trust, or to
• clear up anything that was unclearly stated in the trust.
• A trustee can be removed

If necessary, action can be taken against the trustee to remove them for breaching fiduciary duties.

What is a Trust?

I also have to explain to you what a trust is. A trust is a legal creation whose purpose is to hold assets for beneficiaries. A trust is controlled by a trustee. There are many types of trusts. Some of the more common types of trust are revocable and irrevocable trusts.

What’s a Trust Dispute?

So, what’s a trust dispute? The term “trust dispute” is used as a catch-all for a great number of issues that arise regarding a trust that typically result in litigation. These include:

• A sudden, unexpected change to a trust
• A beneficiary left out of the trust
• Siblings or spouses accused of forcing changes to a trust
• Accusations of accounting mismanagement by the trustee
• Whether a grantor, the person placing assets into the trust, was of sound mind and had the legal capacity to create a trust
• Whether a grantor was coerced in creating a trust, which is called “undue influence” or “duress”

Bloodworth Law Handles Trust and Probate Litigation

Bloodworth Law, PLLC, handles trust and probate litigation for plaintiffs and defendants. We work with clients across Florida for trust and probate litigation cases.

Talk with Reed about why you want to dispute a trust, or if you believe a trustee, family member, friend, or beneficiary has changed or handled a trust improperly.

We won’t take any case we don’t believe in, so let’s talk about what happened and discuss how Bloodworth Law can help you or your family.