Mismanagement of a Trust Leads to $1,300,000 Settlement

This settlement arose from contested litigation relating to assets held in trust. Blaine Morgan Brown’s, of OC Trial Group, APC, client (over 65 years old) was 1 of 2 sisters entitled to the trust assets, yet his client’s sister (the Trustee) created a scheme to liquidate the trust assets for the benefit of herself and her daughter. The Trustee immediately began operating an almond orchard on the trust’s land that was operating at a loss of $300K per year, and hired her unemployed daughter to move onto the orchard to begin operating the orchard at a loss. Simultaneously, the trustee moved into a trust property in Washington and informed Mr. Brown’s client that the Washington property was riddled with mold and a liability to the trust so she would need to give it away to her daughter, otherwise the trust would be exposed to liability. A settlement was reached for $1,300,000.