Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Estate of Mansfield

Heavican, CJ.

NATURE OF CASE

The county court determined, without an evidentiary hearing, that after the beneficiary of a discretionary support trust had died, the trustee could not pay claims for the beneficiary’s health care expenses because the purpose of the trust had ceased to exist. We conclude that a decedent beneficiary’s estate can seek to enforce the beneficiary’s interests in a trust to the same extent that the beneficiary could have enforced his or her interests immediately before death. We further conclude that an evidentiary hearing was required before the county court could…