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Research

Study of 640 Contested Trusts Finds Naming a Single Heir as Trustee Fuels Family Court Fights

A review of 640 contested trust cases published in the Washington University Law Review found that giving one child control of a family trust while siblings also benefit is a leading cause of inheritance litigation, with disputed cases lasting an average of 481 days.

AI News Feed · 2026-09-25 23:31

The authors examined thousands of civil filings scheduled to come before San Francisco Superior Court between 2014 and 2020 to identify the disputes. Christopher Ryan, a professor at Indiana University Maurer School of Law, wrote the study with Reid Weisbord of Rutgers Law School and David Horton of the University of California, Davis, School of Law. Ryan called the single-child trustee arrangement, in an email to CNBC, "an important recipe for conflict." He said the setup "could combine ordinary sibling rivalry with a genuine power imbalance," and that giving one child privileges such as discretion over trust distributions can deepen existing feelings among siblings that a parent played favorites.

Nearly a quarter of the reviewed disputes involved a descendant beneficiary suing another descendant beneficiary who was also a trustee. Horton said many of the petitioners were siblings, by blood or marriage, though some may have been grandchildren. Nearly all of the petitions concerned revocable trusts, a common tool that lets a successor trustee manage the settlor's property long after death.

Trusts are often used to avoid the time and expense of probate, but the cases studied drew families into proceedings that lasted months or years. The average case, including filings that were settled, ran 481 days, CNBC reported.

In 74% of the cases a trustee was accused of misconduct, often breach of the duty of care or loyalty. In nearly a third of the petitions, beneficiaries asked for a detailed accounting of the trust's finances, which Horton said reflected suspicions that trustees were mismanaging funds or taking money from them.

Horton said many of the fights appeared to be driven more by emotion than by money. He pointed to the Mar siblings, who spent their trust's cash assets and more than five years in litigation. Raymond Mar, who died in 2016, gave his son the right to live rent-free in his home for the rest of his life. The siblings went to court after disagreeing over whether the son could take in a tenant. In 2024 a judge scolded both sides for excessive litigation and ordered the trust dissolved and the house sold. In October 2025, Raymond Mar's daughters filed to deduct attorney fees from their brother's share of the trust.

According to the study, litigants who refused to settle generally lost. Petitioners' odds of winning or reaching a settlement fell by 48 percentage points when their cases required a formal trial rather than a ruling by a judge based on filings and oral arguments. Horton said, "A petitioner who is hellbent on getting everything they want due to emotional reasons is less likely to compromise or recognize that their case is flawed."

The study estimated that as many as three-quarters of petitions ended in settlement. The exact share is unclear because about a third of petitions dropped from the docket without a ruling on the merits, although the authors believed many of those were settled. Cases sent to mediation settled 85% of the time, compared with 47% without mediation.

The authors recommended that parents hold difficult conversations early and consider an independent or professional fiduciary. "Death brings out strong emotions," Horton said. "It may be a good practice to explain your estate planning choices to your loved ones while you're alive to flush out any conflict." Ryan said parents cannot rely on provisions meant to head off court battles, such as no-contest clauses that disinherit beneficiaries who challenge a trust; their effectiveness depends on the state. "I would plan for conflict rather than assuming drafting can eliminate it," he said.

Editor's Summary The study, based on contested trust filings in San Francisco Superior Court from 2014 to 2020, links single-heir trustee arrangements to family litigation that averaged 481 days and frequently included accusations of trustee misconduct. Its authors advise parents to explain estate decisions while alive, use independent fiduciaries and expect conflict rather than assume legal drafting will prevent it.