Insurance News Net has published an article by Bill Singer titled "The Lawyer, the Stockbroker, the Ex-Wife, and the Widow." In his article Singer discusses a FINRA arbitration claim between the estate of Newman Trowbridge, Capital One Investments, and representative Rick Schenk. The basis of the claim was that Trowbridge's estate did not receive an IRA account which named Trowbridge's first wife as the beneficiary. The executrix of the estate was Trowbridge's second wife. The estate claimed that this oversight was the result of a breach of fiduciary duty by Capital One and Schenk. While the IRA account was not one of 6 accounts ordered to be designated for the benefit of Trowbridge's estate, lawyers for the estate argued that Capital One and Schenk had an ongoing duty to annually review each of Trowbridge's accounts to be certain that they reflected any changed circumstances in Trowbridge's life. The arbitration panel was not persuaded by this argument, finding that Trowbridge did not rely on Schenk for such annual review. Instead, in panel indicates that Trowbridge was an intelligent, experienced lawyer who called his own shots. The arbitration panel dismissed the estates claim and recommended that the matter be expunged Schenk's Central Depository Records. While from Singer's view it appears clear that Trowbridge did not intend to leave the IRA account to his ex-wife, Singer suggests that the result of this claim is a common, and unfortunate, mistake among otherwise sophisticated professionals.
See Bill Singer, "The Lawyer, the Stockbroker, the Ex-Wife, and the Widow" Insurance News Network (August 2, 2011).
Hat tip: Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog
The arbitration claim discussed in this article may be found at the following citation, however online access will require accepting the terms of use required by FINRA: In the Matter of the FINRA Arbitration Between Succession of Newman Trowbridge, Jr. through its Executrix,
Posted by Jason Tyler Young, Associate Editor, Wealth Strategies Journal
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