Hillman

BACKGROUND

Respondents’ mother, Frances L. Hillman2, created the Frances L. Hillman Trust (the trust) in 1995 and last restated it in 2016. From the trust’s 2016 restatement to Frances’s death on April 2, 20173, Frances, Celeste Pagan, and Sally Severson served as the trust’s co-trustees. Celeste Pagan is a former girlfriend of John Hillman, and the two share a daughter. Sally Severson is respondents’ cousin. When Frances died, respondents became co- trustees of the trust along with Pagan and Severson. Under the trust terms, upon Frances’s death, two $10,000 distributions were to go to Frances’s stepdaughters, and respondents were to split the trust residue. Frances lived in an assisted living center before she died, and the sale of her residence closed shortly before her death in March 2017. Sale proceeds of approximately $831,000 became a trust asset. While Frances was in the hospital in the days leading up to her death, Pagan wrote checks totaling approximately $270,000 from the trust to Frances’s relatives and acquaintances, including Pagan and Pagan’s husband and daughters.

2 Because respondents and the decedent share a last name, we will refer to them individually by their…