“Were the Trustee’s Investments Prudent? Objections and Defenses” | LACBA Trusts & Estates Symposium 2013

Panelists:

Honorable James A. Steele, Los Angeles Superior Court
Stephen M. Lowe, Freeman, Freeman & Smiley
Reynolds Cafferata, Rodriguez, Horii, Choi & Cafferata LLP

Considering the difficulty of making sound investment decisions consistently, and the range of potential criticisms, it is no surprise that litigation concerning investing by fiduciaries is a perennial in the field of trusts and estates. The crash of September 2008 and its aftermath have produced disputes that recall the surge of litigation spawned by the Great Depression. Yet battles over fiduciaries’ investments are a share of the courts’ business in every era. The panelists will discuss the main lines of attack on fiduciary investing, the standards relied upon, and the defenses maintained.

Topics Include:

• The interaction of prudent investment principles and Probate Code §2574
• Leading cases concerning investments by fiduciaries
• Delegation of duties under Probate Code §16052
• When prudent investment requires active portfolio management
• Prudent investment for different types of estates
• The most common lapses in sound investing