Fiduciary Law Trends 2018Fiduciary Law Trends 2018

Another year has come and gone with no shortage of interesting cases containing, among some of the more interesting topics, fiduciary mistakes and tax issues. The following noteworthy cases highlight trends we see evolving in the fiduciary field.

Digital Assets

Access to a decedent’s digital assets is becoming extremely important as more clients are going paperless, foregoing the use of written communications and discontinuing landline telephones. What happens when an appointed fiduciary is asked to access a decedent’s email accounts? What role do third-party companies play in either allowing or disallowing the release of information (for example, banks and Internet service providers)?  

In Matter of Serrano,¹ the court granted the pro se p...