Fiduciary and Probate Litigation Group

Cummings & Lockwood has some of the most experienced fiduciary litigation attorneys in the country.  We have represented clients in fiduciary and probate litigation matters in trial courts across the State of Connecticut and in South Florida from Palm Beach to Naples, including Miami and the Florida Keys. 

We also have represented clients, along with local counsel, in fiduciary and probate litigation matters in New York and California, and argued appeals in such matters in the Connecticut Supreme and Appellate Courts; the Second, Third and Fourth District Courts of Appeals in Florida; and the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second and Eleventh Circuits. 

These trust and estate litigation matters have included our representation of beneficiaries, executors and trustees in the following areas:

• Will Contests
• Conservatorship and Guardianship Proceedings
• Fiduciary Removal Proceedings
• Contested Accountings
• Trust and Estate Administration Disputes
• Breach of Fiduciary Duty and Management Claims
• Fiduciary Fee Disputes
• Construction Proceedings
• Reformation Actions
• Undue Influence Actions
• Investment Disputes

Our experience allows us to put our collective knowledge to work for our clients to achieve their goals.  We listen carefully to understand our clients’ objectives and work as a team with our clients towards accomplishing them.  We understand that every case is unique and uniquely important to our clients.  We strive to match the knowledge and experience of our attorneys to the needs of the specific case and communicate with our clients at every step in the litigation to ensure they understand and approve what is being done and why. 

The attorneys in the Fiduciary and Probate Litigation Group include attorneys in both our Litigation and Private Clients Groups with significant experience in contested trusts, estates and probate matters, including Michael P. Kaelin, Chairman, John W. Cannavino, John F. Carberry, Robert  L. Lancaster, Kelley Galica  Peck, Christopher L. Ulrich, and William N. Wright.

2023 Representative Matters

• We successfully negotiated resolutions of multiple disputes arising out of the deaths of a formerly high profile husband and wife, including disputes concerning valuable works of art and real properties in Atherton, California, and Mexico, and changes made to a family trust when they were in their nineties.
• We successfully negotiated resolutions of multiple disputes concerning a decedent’s estate that had been pending for more the ten years in Florida, including disputes concerning the value of an airplane, and the maintenance and repair costs of the airplane; the valuation and maintenance expense of a classic car collection; and the repayment of loans from various business entities owned by the decedent at the time of his death.
• We successfully represented the trustee of a trust for the benefit of the decedent’s minor children against claims brought by their mother to compel distributions and remove the trustee, including having the guardian ad litem for the minor children removed when he attempted to appeal this decision.
• We represented an estate in an appeal to the New York Surrogate’s Court from a decision by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance denying an estate tax deduction, resulting in a favorable settlement.
• We successfully represented the beneficiary of an estate in an appeal before the Connecticut Supreme Court involving the issue of the enforceability of in terrorem or “no contest” clauses in a trust and a will.
• We represented two individuals on an appeal before the Connecticut Supreme Court following the granting of summary judgment in favor of our clients on claims of tortious interference with an inheritance and a tortious interference with a contract.
• We successfully represented petitioners and respondents in conservatorship proceedings throughout Connecticut.
• We successfully represented fiduciaries and beneficiaries in will contests throughout Connecticut.
• We successfully represented numerous executors and trustees against breach of fiduciary duty claims and in fiduciary removal proceedings.
• We successfully represented trustees and executors in accounting proceedings throughout Connecticut.
• We represented several large estates in connection with audits by the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services on the issue of domicile.
• We obtained successful resolutions and settlements for individuals and families in various other probate contests, fiduciary challenges, and state and federal tax audits.

Representative Matters Prior to 2023:

• We represented an Estate in a dispute regarding a multi-million dollar charitable pledge, settling the matter favorably.
• We achieved a historic settlement with the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services where it agreed to settle a potential multi-million dollar estate tax liability for $0.  
• We successfully settled an estate tax liability with the I.R.S after bringing a petition in United States Tax Court challenging the I.R.S.’s treatment of a Qualified Personal Residence Trust.  The client paid less than ten percent of the potential tax liability in settlement.
• We obtained the dismissal of objections to the admission of a will to probate in the Probate Division of the Circuit Court in Florida as untimely and failing to comply with Florida procedures.
• We successfully negotiated and obtained court approval of the settlement of two probate appeals and three civil actions involving multiple disputes between multiple parties that have been pending for more than five years. 
• We represented two individuals on an appeal before the Connecticut Supreme Court following the granting of summary judgment in favor of our clients on claims of tortious interference with an inheritance and a tortious interference with a contract.
• We represented several large Estates in connection with audits by the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services on the issue of domicile, resolving one appeal with the payment of no additional tax and obtaining a favorable result in another audit with millions of dollars in tax savings.
• We successfully represented the trust division of a major national bank in seeking and obtaining Probate Court approval for the division of a testamentary trust in both the Connecticut Probate Court and on appeal to the Connecticut Superior Court to more fairly allocate legal fees and expenses over the objections of the beneficiaries causing the legal fees and expenses to be incurred.  
• We successfully negotiated resolution of involuntary conservatorship proceeding against our client’s husband in Connecticut and an annulment action in Vermont brought by the husband’s adult children from his first marriage, alleging that their father lacked the capacity to marry our client.  Resolution allowed our client to remain married and live financially secure with her husband without interference from his children while still maintaining good relationships with the husband’s children and grandchildren from his first marriage. 
• We negotiated a favorable settlement on behalf of our clients, as executors and trustees, of an action for breach of contract to make a will, promissory estoppel, unjust enrichment, and to quiet title to real estate brought by the decedent’s paramour, who was approximately forty years younger than the decedent, in the Circuit Court in Palm Beach County, Florida. 
• After we successfully represented our client at trial in the Connecticut Probate Court, which denied admission of her father’s will that excluded our client to probate, and found the proponent of the will and others had defrauded and misappropriated assets from her father’s estate, we represented the client in the appeals to the Connecticut Superior Court from these Probate Court decisions, and brought a separate civil action against her father’s estate for intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress for psychologically and emotionally abusing the client for almost forty years up to and including excluding her from his will on his death.
• We convinced the Connecticut Supreme Court to dismiss Probate Court proceedings restricting our client’s use of funds that had been awarded to her by the September 11th Victim’s Compensation Fund.   This litigation arose following the death of her husband in the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001.  In a unanimous decision written by the Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, Hynes v. Jones, 331 Conn. 385 (2019), the final judgment reversed the decisions of the Connecticut Appellate Court, Superior Court, and Probate Court.
• We successfully negotiated and obtained Probate Court approval of a settlement agreement resolving all of the disputes between the two co-trustees of eight multigenerational family trusts and 28 separate adult beneficiaries in four separate generations, and a guardian ad litem for the unborn, unknown and unascertained issue of the grantor, concerning various trust distributions.
• We achieved summary judgment in the Connecticut Superior Court in favor of our client, who asserted a breach of contract claim against a decedent’s estate, defeating various estate defenses, including those based on the statute of limitations, the parole evidence rule and the statute of frauds.
• We brought to a successful resolution multiple claims on behalf of and against a decedent’s estate in both the Probate Court and several Superior Court actions, resulting in our client's appointment as executor of the decedent’s estate and trustee of the decedent’s trusts, enabling the funding of millions of dollars to charities in accordance with the decedent’s will and trusts. 
• We obtained a Probate Court decree ordering an attorney-in-fact to make restitution to a decedent’s estate of more than $8 million in gifts made using a power of attorney granted before the decedent’s death while the decedent was incapacitated.
• We brought to a successful conclusion our representation of a foreign bank in Probate Court proceedings to compel the disclosure of the decedent’s assets in the foreign bank in compliance with U.S., Connecticut and foreign law.  
• We won a judgment in a family dispute upholding the validity of amendments to various trusts after a seven day bench trial in the Connecticut Superior Court. 
• We obtained a judgment in favor of deceased trustees of eight family trusts against multiple objections to accountings for each of the trusts, including recovery of attorneys’ fees and expenses incurred.
• We obtained dismissal of a conservatorship proceeding in the Connecticut Probate Court after more than five years of litigation, including appeals to both the Connecticut Appellate Court and Connecticut Supreme Court. 
• We resolved a complex family dispute between two siblings, involving two civil actions in the Connecticut Superior Court and a conservatorship proceeding in the Connecticut Probate Court, as well as a will contest in the Connecticut Probate Court and subsequent litigation in the Superior Court.