Trustee May Close Account To Prevent Charitable Gift
But Court refuses to dismiss all claims by charity seeking to collect on donor’s promises
What happens under the following statement of facts? The settlor/trustee of a personal trust enters into two gift agreements with a charity and delivers two checks for the agreed upon gifts, which the charity accepts and agrees to use under certain conditions. The charity deposits the checks in its bank account three days later. The day after giving the checks to the charity, however, the settlor/trustee dies and his son, who was the sole remainder beneficiary of the trust, becomes the trustee. The new trustee closes the trust’s bank account so that the checks could not be cashed, even though the funds were credited to the charity before the bank learned that the account had been closed...
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