Probate: Trust-No-Contest Clause

Plaintiffs appealed the trial court’s interlocutory determination that proceeding with their complaint would trigger a forfeiture of their beneficiary interests in a trust under the trust document’s no-contest clause. Settlor had amended the trust in 2020 to name a non-family member as the primary beneficiary and successor trustee to the settlor. After settlor became incapacitated and passed away, plaintiffs learned of the amendments to the trust and filed suit to challenge them, arguing that settlor already lacked testamentary capacity at the time of the amendment. However, the trial court ruled that the suit would trigger forfeiture under the no-contest clause.

Where the amended trust document created a new operative trust instrument, plaintiffs’ challenge to the validity of the amended document would also involve a challenge to the validity of the no-contest clause.

Pfeiffer, J., dissenting: “I respectfully submit that we must begin from a position of analysis that the settlor’s no-contest provision ‘is to be enforced where it is clear that the [settlor] intended that the conduct in question should 3 forfeit [the trust contestant’s] interest under the [trust].’”

Judgment is vacated and remanded.

Chipman v. Daugherty (MLW No. 84720/Case No. WD88246 – 22 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, Ardini, Jr., J.) Appealed from circuit court, Boone County, Morrell, J. (Jason Lamb, Mexico for appellant) (Phebe La Mar, Columbia for respondent)