Fiduciary and Private Client Litigation

Experience

• Represented individual regarding alleged breach of fiduciary duty as executor of an estate through the conversion of valuable copyrights and iconic rock memorabilia via a complicated series of transactions taking place over a decade. We refuted the plaintiffs’ chain of title in copyrights and memorabilia dating back to the 1960s, obtaining summary judgment in favor of our client. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed, and the US Supreme Court denied plaintiffs’ petition for certioriari.
• Represent trustee in contentious intra-family issues in multiple states.
• Represent beneficiaries of a series of trusts who allege that their trust funds were diverted to the personal use of the family trustees.
• Defend executors of the estate of a prominent New York real estate developer against claims brought by essentially disinherited children.
• Represented individual in litigation in multiple states in connection with her interests in the estate of an insurance executive and investor.
• Defend a financial institution as trustee of a trust that held development real estate against alleged wrongs, primarily selling too soon and missing a run-up in the market.
• Represent one of multiple executors of the estate of a famous real estate developer in a decades-long litigation involving assets in multiple countries.
• Expert witness regarding largest individual deficiency assessed by IRS in US history stemming from family's use of offshore trusts/subsidiary entities in case closely watched by entire international estate planning bar.
• Defend will of an environmentalist who donated hundreds of millions of dollars to create national parks in South America in contests being waged in New York, California, Argentina and Chile.
• Court-appointed guardian ad litem in Switzerland and Bermuda representing the interests of minors/unborns in restructuring extensive overseas offshore trust holdings of one of America's wealthiest families involving highly complex tax/nontax issues and bitter litigation. Courts in both countries approved the settlement we reached.
• Served as expert witness and consultant in multi-jurisdictional US and non-US disputes among heirs of prominent Taiwanese family concerning use of offshore structures for estate planning, successioning of beneficial interests, and US taxation of those structures.
• Represented beneficiary in highly contested estate of renowned Indian artist.
• Represented Italian beneficiaries of numerous US trusts holding hundreds of millions of dollars in assets in multi-jurisdictional disputes concerning exercises of powers of appointment.
• Consulting expert to Guernsey trustee in litigation concerning foreign grantor trusts and US tax and succession law.
• Served as an expert witness regarding use of offshore trusts in bankruptcy proceeding of US taxpayer who was assessed with a $3.2 billion tax liability, the largest ever imposed by the IRS.
• Represented US heir in contest over a Swiss billion dollar estate.
• Appointed by the courts in Switzerland and Bermuda as guardian ad litem in parallel proceedings to determine control over and entitlements to the then largest US privately held business.
• Represented family members of a world renowned performing artist in contests over the devolution of his estate in all jurisdictions.
• Represented mother and sons in a contest over entitlement to the vast, worldwide business interests of the late, iconic founder, which were claimed by the daughter.