Breach of Duties

Executors, trustees, administrators and guardians have a legal duty to protect the beneficiaries and the assets and property they are holding for the benefit of someone else. These are called “fiduciary duties.” There are times when a beneficiary, family member or interested person believes that an executor, trustee, or administrator has ignored his or her duties and harmed the person whom he or she pledged to protect. When this happens, there is a claim for breach of fiduciary duty. The lawyers at Gaslowitz Frankel LLC represent plaintiffs and defendants in disputes involving claims for breach of fiduciary duty.

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Cronic v. Baker - Charitable trusts / executor fees

Posted: March 10th, 2009 by Gaslowitz Frankel LLC

In her will, a woman directed that “a Trust Fund be established” of no more than $25,000 to cover educational expenses of deserving persons, preferably relatives, with an interest in agriculture or homemaking.  Another provision in her will stated, “I give, devise and bequeath the following amounts to the following private cemeteries,” and she named three cemeteries, with two receiving $25,000 each and the third receiving $20,000.  The executor was the attorney who drafted the will.  Instead of funding the education trust, the executor distributed the money to relatives named in the will.  He paid $25,000 to one cemetery, but paid nothing to the other two, again distributing the remaining $45,000 to persons named in the will. 

The Attorney General of Georgia sued, contending that the will created charitable trusts for education and for the cemeteries, and that the executor breached his fiduciary duties by failing to fund them.  The superior court agreed, and ordered that the trusts be properly funded.  In addition, the court ordered the executor to forfeit his fees.  He appealed. 

The Supreme Court held that the will created a charitable trust for education; however, the court found that the will unambiguously called for an outright bequest to the cemeteries, and did not create a charitable trust for them.  Georgia law gives the Attorney General the power to enforce charitable trusts, but in this case the Attorney General may enforce only the provision relating to the educational trust.  As for the executor’s fees, the court found that since the executor failed to fund the education trust, he violated his fiduciary duty and thus forfeited his right to compensation. 

284 Ga. 452 (2008)

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