Dolenz v. Vail

OPINION

Opinion by

Justice LANG-MIERS.

Bernard J. Dolenz was made the successor trustee and beneficiary of an inter vivos trust created by the artist Dmitri Vail. Dmitri Vail died and Nancy Vail, as independent executor of Dmitri Vail’s estate, brought proceedings in Dallas Probate Court No. 3 to open and administer the estate. Dolenz brought a claim against the estate alleging that he had the legal right to paintings and personal property that were part of the inter vivos trust. In 1997 the probate court held that the Dmitri Vail trust was a valid and fully enforceable trust. But in 1998 the…