Texas Heirs Face Looming Danger
Editor's Note: Would you want your final wishes to be overruled and your heirs to be stripped of what should rightfully be theirs? This type of "estate looting" is occurring across the country. The US~Observer sincerely hopes Judge Burt Carnes takes it to heart that his ruling in this case just might have impact beyond his "little" corner of Texas.
By Edward Snook
Investigative Reporter
GEORGETOWN, Texas – Upon his death Vernon Kunshick intended that his daughters acquire his assets, so he placed them into a living trust for that purpose. Now, his wishes are being challenged by his second wife Teddie Jo Kunshick and the attorney who Vernon Kunshick used to prepare that same trust.
Teddie Jo Kunshick, is apparently seeking court approval to retain the trust assets of her late husband under the guise of alleged estate administration purposes. She is also trying to disqualify Kunshick’s daughters, his primary heirs, as trust beneficiaries. If successful this will essentially place another dagger into the wishes of Vernon Kunshick. A hearing in this matter is scheduled for March 16, 2009 in a Williamson County, Texas District Court and is to be heard by Judge Burt Carnes.
Should clearly stated final wishes of an individual be respected? Should courts and/or legal manipulations and procedures reconfigure a decedent’s property distribution intentions at the behest of estate administrators? This case listed as “Teddie Jo Kunshick, as Trustee of the Vernon Kunshick Living Trust, v. Patricia Gayle Gregory and Lou Ann Anderson”, just might answer these questions. Ultimately, Judge Carnes’ ruling could affect all Texans’ individual rights to determine their final distribution of assets, as well as affecting all beneficiaries’ rights of inheritance. As the nation’s second most popular retirement locale, this case could set standards for those who live and die in Texas, particularly in Williamson County – home to Sun City Texas and the state’s largest concentration of senior citizens.
Property being passed down through generations of family was once a time-honored American tradition, but today, legal system abuses and selective treatment of probate documents threaten intended property transfers. Legal commentator Horace Cooper refers to this rise in estate litigation as a new inheritance tax designed to divert assets from intended beneficiaries. Cooper cites Marshall v. Marshall (Anna Nicole Smith’s action against her deceased husband’s family) as an example of such activities, but warns that estates of far less value are becoming similarly vulnerable.
How can a trustee be considered as acting in good faith or as a proper fiduciary after unnecessarily creating a conflict leading to 15 months of litigation and causing major expense to both the trust and the trust beneficiaries? It therefore is not surprising that Trustee Kunshick and Ron Greening are working to pre-empt the beneficiaries’ trustee removal motion by disentitling Kunshick’s daughters from any intended inheritance.
These proceedings illustrate how the execution of an estate plan can become a legal entanglement, beneficial to few and why these “case trends” pose a dangerous threat to many. The bottom line is, a person’s last wishes should be just as secure today as they were in past decades, but unfortunately they aren’t.
The US~Observer will continue reporting to America on this case, watching closely what Judge Burt Carnes allows to happen with Vernon Kunshick’s estate assets.Anyone with information on this case, including the players involved is urged to contact Edward Snook at 541-474-7885.
1 comment:
Mr. Cooper is dead-on when he explains that this new wave of estate litigation is a form of estate tax to which smaller and smaller estates are becoming vulnerable. Not every case is as sensational as Marshall v. Marshall, complete with a gold-digging spouse who was 60+ years younger than her billionaire husband, however, families have started to read from the Anna Nicole playbook and will shop a claim to any court who will hear their case just as long as there is a chance that they think they might collect a nice piece of property out of the ordeal. Sensible people can follow the lead of Anna Nicole's husband and put estate planning documents in place, but there is no guarding against the greed of those who survive you. An article that I read really summed up how frivolous Anna's case was: http://spectator.org/archives/2009/03/05/the-legal-inheritance-of-anna
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