Corman

INTRODUCTION

For the benefit of their four children, Roger W. and Julie Corman set up three irrevocable trusts: the Pacific Trust, the Tessa Trust, and the MG Trust. The children are now adults, and the trusts’ assets are purportedly worth more than $100 million. In 2009 two of the Cormans’ children, Roger M. and Brian, filed petitions in the probate court seeking, among other things, accountings for the trusts, distributions Roger M. and Brian claimed were due, removal of Roger W. and Julie as trustees, and disgorgement of allegedly misappropriated trust assets. Four years later, after the conclusion of a trial on the petitions and on Roger M.’s and Brian’s objections to the trust accountings, the probate court found that Roger W. and Julie had proved the accuracy of their accountings, Roger M. and Brian had failed to prove any malfeasance or improper accounting, and Roger M. and Brian had contested the accountings without reasonable cause and in bad faith. The court also found that distribution provisions in the MG Trust were ambiguous and should be reformed to reflect the original intent of Roger W. and Julie, which, the court found, was that those distributions occur only…