Control from the Grave
At the time Diane became pregnant, she was seeing two different men, and so she did not know who the father was. Apparently Diane did not look to either man for child support for her son, Keith, so he never knew who his father was.
Diane’s father was not happy with this state of affairs. His revocable trust provided for Diane after his death, but it conditioned the bequest on her taking action within 60 days to determine who Keith’s biological father was. Medical and DNA testing were to be used. Failure to take action would result in Diane forfeiting all of her interest in the trust.
It is possible that Diane thought the condition set by her father was not legally enforceable. When conditions on legacies are against public policy they may be ignored. For example, requiring a daughter to divorce an unpleasant son-in-law would not be enforceable. Whatever the reason, Diane took no steps to comply, though the trustee warned her of the consequences of inaction.
Sixteen months after the father’s death, the trustee turned to the probate court for instructions on how to proceed. The other trust beneficiaries then intervened to have Diane’s interest terminated for her failure to meet the condition set by her father.
The court ruled that the father’s requirement was not unreasonable, and did not violate public policy. Diane could have taken steps within 60 days to preserve her gift. For example, she could have told Keith that his father was one of two men, and shifted responsibility to Keith for the next step. Or she might have petitioned the court to set the condition aside entirely because it was an invasion of her former lovers’ privacy. But she did nothing at all.
Doing nothing resulted in the termination of Diane’s trust interest.
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