Taxation & Estate Planning

Even More on Dunn v. Patterson

By Joel A. Schoenmeyer

OK, this will be my last post on Dunn v. Patterson (for a while, at least). Previous discussions: here and here.

I spoke to someone with knowledge of the case, and learned the following:

1. Lawrence Patterson was NOT named as a successor trustee in the documents.

2. One of the perplexing things about the facts laid out in the opinion: why didn't the Dunns at least take a meeting with Patterson? Obviously, doing so would have been cheaper than going to court. Well, according to my source, the Dunns DID attempt to set up a meeting with Patterson. He wound up canceling.

3. Also -- and this is consistent with other complaint I spoke about -- Patterson planned to charge the Dunns at his hourly rate ($350) for this meeting.

Full post as published by Death and Taxes Blog on December 15, 2009 (boomark / email).