Fiduciary Trust International v. Superior Court

Opinion

ZELON, J.

INTRODUCTION

In 1992, Raymond Sandler, then an attorney at Sandler & Rosen, drafted wills for Willet Brown and his wife Betty Brown. Willet’s will established a marital trust that was expected to generate several million dollars in annual income. The will named Betty as the marital trust’s income beneficiary for life; upon her death, the principal of the trust was to be transferred into an “Exemption Equivalent Trust” that would benefit each of Willet’s four children. Betty’s will, in turn, left a large majority of her estate to the Exemption Equivalent Trust. After Willet…