Henry

BACKGROUND

I. Jerry’s trust and Kimberly’s lawsuit

Jerry and Denise were married for 40 years and had three children together—

Kimberly, Stacy, and Brian. In 1999, Jerry created a revocable living trust, which named

Kimberly and Stacy as beneficiaries and expressly excluded Brian.2 Jerry amended his

trust in 2001 and 2007 to change the successor trustee.

In the summer of 2010, Stacy and Denise had an argument, and Stacy moved out

of her parents’ home. Stacy saw her parents briefly in November 2010 but remained

estranged from them for the rest of their lives.

Because some of the parties in this case have the same last name, we refer to them by their first names to avoid confusion. No disrespect is intended. Denise created a trust the same year, but her trust is not at issue in this case. 2 On December 1, 2010, Jerry executed a “short form” amendment to his trust. The

short form lists Kimberly as the successor trustee but does not identify the beneficiaries

of the trust. The corresponding “long form” amendment to Jerry’s trust made Kimberly

the sole beneficiary and expressly excluded Stacy. However, it is unknown whether Jerry

ever executed that…