SUCCESS STUDIES

FEDERAL COURT. A sister sued a brother as former Trustee of a trust established by their father, in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court. BFM removed the case to Federal Court under diversity jurisdiction, and moved to dismiss on various grounds. After two dismissals without prejudice, the sister tried to have the case remanded to State Court by adding additional defendants who were Florida residents, thereby destroying diversity. Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk successfully opposed the sister’s efforts and obtained a dismissal with prejudice in favor of the brother.

FAMILY AND TRUST LAW. Three siblings were beneficiaries under a Trust established by their deceased father. The Trust contained three subtrusts, one for each of the three siblings, and the surviving siblings were the default remainder beneficiaries for any of the siblings who died without being survived by descendants. The Trust also contained strict “spendthrift” provisions to protect against creditors. The eldest sibling secretly adopted one of his creditors, without notice to the other siblings, to evade the spendthrift provisions and to displace his siblings as the remainder beneficiaries of his subtrust. Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk intervened and successfully reversed the adoption, restoring the other two siblings to their rightful positions as remainder beneficiaries of the eldest sibling’s subtrust.

WILL CONTEST. Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk negotiated a settlement of a Will contest where our client received over 75% of the decedent’s estate AFTER he had previously waived all rights to contest the Will, in which he had been disinherited. Our client was disinherited by his father in favor of our client’s cousin who, in the last Will of the father, left everything to the cousin. Upon the father’s death, the cousin sent our client a document to waive his right to contest the father’s Will, which our client signed. Subsequently the client hired our firm. We petitioned to revoke the probate of the father’s Will and to vacate the waiver signed by our client. After some litigation practice, we negotiated a successful settlement where our client and his family received 77.5% of the Estate.

ELDER ABUSE. This matter involved a vulnerable senior adult who was fraudulently induced to “give” money and property to a pastor. The actions took place in two Florida counties and sought the return of property as well as damages for unjust enrichment. The attorneys of Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk were successful in obtaining judgments in both counties for damages and the return of the real estate.

APPELLATE LITIGATION – GUARDIANSHIP. The attorneys of Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk successfully litigated this multi-jurisdictional appellate matter in Pennsylvania and Florida. Boyes, Farina and Matwiczyk’s clients, four daughters, were in dispute with their father and sister over nearly 40,000 shares of bank stock. The litigation outlived the father. The stock was returned to the four daughters.

ESTATE & TRUST LITIGATION. In this six-year, highly-litigated matter involving an estate, a guardianship, and dozens of trusts valued in excess of $80 million, the attorneys of Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk successfully administered and litigated the highly complex estate of a young woman murdered by her husband and leaving behind a minor child. The firm’s attorneys managed multiple actions in probate, tax, civil, criminal, and guardianship courts.

INTRA-FAMILY DISPUTE. This multi-jurisdictional trust dispute was among family members of different generations seeking to disinherit extended family members and adopted children. The attorneys of Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk successfully negotiated the reformation of dozens of multigenerational dynasty trusts established in Florida, Delaware, and Indiana, many of which were established decades ago.

WILL CONTEST. In this matter, the attorneys of Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk successfully defended a will contest case at both the trial and appellate levels, resulting in a devise worth tens of millions to a national charity.

FIDUCIARY LITIGATION. The attorneys of Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk successfully litigated, and ultimately settled, claims for breach of fiduciary duty and failure to diversify trust assets for tens of millions of dollars against one of the nation’s largest bank and trust companies which was serving as the personal representative and trustee of the decedent’s estate and trust.

WILL CONTEST. The attorneys of Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk successfully litigated and settled a Will and Trust contest brought by a son against his mother over the family’s newspaper empire and proceeds from its ultimate sale.

COMMERCIAL LITIGATION & GUARDIANSHIP. The attorneys of Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk successfully litigated and resolved a complex family business dispute and guardianship matter involving a daughter seeking to establish her interest in a large family-owned business. The firm established the daughter’s interests in assets valued at tens of millions of dollars and developed a procedure which allowed the daughter to liquidate her interests in the closely held entities on favorable, tax sensitive terms.

INTRA-FAMILY DISPUTE/FIDUCIARY LITIGATION. The attorneys of Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk successfully litigated, tried and settled a longstanding multi-jurisdictional dispute among siblings, defending breach of fiduciary duty claims brought against a daughter serving as trustee and personal representative of her mother’s estate and issues relating to the administration of her father’s estate.

WILL CONTEST. The attorneys of Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk successfully defended a will contest brought by a disinherited son while successfully defending sexual abuse claims brought by a mentally disabled daughter against her father’s estate.

FIDUCIARY LITIGATION. The attorneys of Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk successfully defended individual trustees, a longtime family attorney, and an accountant who were sued for the loss of $85 million dollars of assets in a fictitious Madoff account. The fictitious Madoff account was part of what is considered the largest financial fraud in U.S. history.

WILL & TRUST CONTEST. The attorneys of Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk successfully settled a will and trust contest and tortious interference action against the surviving spouse and her attorneys and accountants on behalf of the decedent’s son who had been disinherited.

EXPERT WITNESS SERVICES. The attorneys of Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk served as expert witnesses in a fee dispute involving millions of dollars in attorney fees sought by the institutional Personal Representative of the estate against several beneficiaries who unsuccessfully challenged certain lifetime transfers. Bill Boyes, John Farina, and Peter Matwiczyk are widely accepted and recognized as experts in fee dispute matters.

GUARDIANSHIP. The attorneys of Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk successfully defended a court-appointed guardian from challenges to her accounting and administration by the son of the deceased ward, dating back to the beginning of her appointment.

FIDUCIARY APPOINTMENT. The attorneys of Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk successfully achieved the appointment of their clients as the personal representatives of their deceased mother’s estate, versus their sister, and despite the fact that the clients were second in line to be personal representatives behind their sister.

FIDUCIARY LITIGATION. The attorneys of Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk successfully represented a surviving spouse, who was serving as the sole trustee of her husband’s trust, in a dispute involving the validity of a trust amendment, alleged breaches of fiduciary duty, title to the marital home, and objections to trust accountings.

REAL ESTATE LITIGATION. The attorneys of Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk successfully obtained a final judgment concerning a trust estate valued at well over $10 million and involving conflicting terms, multiple entities and a suit to quiet title of large tracts of real estate owned by the various entities. The attorneys were successful in quieting title on all contiguous properties owned by the trust and various entities.

CHARITABLE PLEDGE. In this matter, the attorneys of Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk successfully negotiated the fulfillment of a charitable pledge and naming of a cancer center at a leading, nationally prominent hospital. The pledged assets being substantially comprised of a fictitious account necessitated this. The fictitious Madoff account was part of what is considered the largest financial fraud in U.S. history.

TRUST TERMINATION. The attorneys of Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk successfully opposed judicial trust termination pursuant to an out-of-state judgment with federal estate tax ramifications.

WRONGFUL DEATH. The attorneys of Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk successfully represented the surviving spouse, integrating the spouse’s participation in wrongful death proceeds going to survivors, in light of the deceased spouse’s wills’ conflicting terms. The highly complex case involved a large pharmaceutical products liability case. Bill Boyes is a statewide authority and widely recognized as an expert witness on allocation of wrongful death proceeds.

TAX CONTROVERSIES. The attorneys of Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk successfully obtained IRC 6166 approval from the IRS, securing multiple extensions to close probate estate in order to comport with the IRS extensions to pay estate tax. The case culminated in a 15-year deferment on estate taxes in excess of $10 million.

FIDUCIARY LITIGATION. The attorneys of Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk successfully represented the beneficiaries against trustees in an action to maximize discretionary distributions under the trusts.

HOMESTEAD. The attorneys of Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk successfully preserved a homestead and exempt property for descendants in an otherwise insolvent estate.

TAX COURT. The attorneys of Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk successfully prosecuted a United States Tax Court proceeding, thus saving the estate in excess of $15 million in combined federal estate and fiduciary income taxes.

FIDUCIARY LITIGATION. Boyes, Farina and Matwiczyck represented the lifetime beneficiary of a Trust created by her father on his death. The Trust provided that she would receive some income and principal during her life, with the remainder of the Trust going to her younger sisters (who had received trusts of their own) after her death. One of those sisters was also the Trustee of the Trust who, recognizing that she herself would receive 50% of whatever was left after our client’s death, made minimal distributions and never accounted to our client for the Trust assets. Upon being hired, the attorneys of Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk sued the Trustee for breach of fiduciary duty and successfully won an injunction preventing her from using the Trust funds to defend herself in the suit. The matter was subsequently settled and our client (who was only the lifetime beneficiary of the Trust) received 100% of the assets of the Trust, which was then terminated.