Davis v. U.S. Bank National Association case brief

Davis v. U.S. Bank National Association case brief summary
243 S.W.3d 425 (2007)

CASE SYNOPSIS

The Circuit Court of St. Louis County, Missouri, granted summary judgment in favor of respondent grandson on his petition seeking the removal of appellant bank as trustee. The circuit court ordered the removal of the bank as trustee and appointed a successor. The bank appealed.

ARGUMENT
The bank argued that the grandson's failure to join all of the remainder beneficiaries of the trust as parties to his lawsuit deprived the court of subject matter jurisdiction.

DISCUSSION

• The appellate court found that, based on the language of Mo. Rev. Stat. § 456.1-103(20) (2006), the grandson and his son and daughter were the permissible distributees if the bank's interest or the trust terminated at the time of the filing of the suit. As such, the grandson and his children were all of the qualified beneficiaries of the trust. 
• The remote remainder beneficiaries of the trust were not qualified beneficiaries. 
• All of the necessary parties were before the court. 
• The grandson and children had substantially identical interests which were not in conflict with regard to removing the bank as trustee and implementing a successor. 
• There was no conflict of interest or issue of fact with regard to payment of capital gains taxes. 
• The grandson presented factually supported reasons why it would be beneficial to him and the children to remove the present trustee and the bank did not put any of those reasons into dispute.

CONCLUSION
The judgment was affirmed.

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