Releases: End of the Road or Just a New Beginning?

October 06, 2017

The fiduciary who thinks a receipt and release is the answer to all future claims for an accounting and liability may have a surprise in store. Over the past several months, Surrogates have explored the issue of receipts and releases, and have provided insight into just how far they will go to “save the day.” The decision in Matter of Ingraham, NYLJ, June 16, 2017, at p. 28 (Sur. Ct., New York County) is a case in point.

Before the Surrogate’s Court, New York County, was a petition by the successor trustee of two separate inter vivos trusts to compel two former trustees of the trusts to account. One of the trustees, who had been removed by the Grantor, filed his accountings; the other trustee, who had resigned, objected to the petitions relying on language in the trust instruments, which she claimed relieved her of any duty to account, as well as releases executed by the Grantor and the other trustee.

At the time the objectant resigned, the Grantor executed instruments by which the objectant was released from any and all claims related in any way to her role as trustee, with the exception of claims arising from fraud or willful misconduct. The release further acknowledged that the Grantor desired to forego a formal account. The accounting trustee signed a similar release, and assented to any account (former or informal) rendered by the objectant. Further, it appeared that the terms of each trust instrument dispensed with the need for the trustees to file periodic judicial accountings.

The court held that the objectant’s reliance on the releases to insulate her from her duty to account was misplaced, inasmuch as the instruments reserved the releasors’ rights to seek relief for any fraud or willful misconduct. Further, the court rejected any claim by the objectant that the releases relieved her of her duty to account, a responsibility that was incidental to the trustee’s duty and fundamental to any fiduciary relationship. Indeed, the court found that while the release executed by the Grantor may have arguably consisted of a waiver of the Grantor’s right to an accounting, the court found that it did not constitute a clear and unambiguous waiver of an accounting by the other trustee and trust beneficiaries.

Additionally, the court held that the provisions of the trust instruments only exempted the objectant from filing periodic accountings, but did not relate to the final accounting sought by the proceedings. Finally, the court observed that where a former trustee has failed to account within a reasonable time and full releases do not relieve her of the duty to account, the court may sua sponte direct an accounting pursuant to SCPA 2205.

Accordingly, the objectant was directed to account with respect to each of the subject trusts.

Based on the foregoing, counsel should take heed that a release may not, despite its intended purpose, always serve to insure the complete and final discharge of a fiduciary. As Ingraham instructs, a release should, at the very least, be comprehensive in its terms and clear and unambiguous as to the scope of its application, most especially if it is designed to constitute a waiver of an accounting. But of course, it should always be borne in mind that regardless of the language of the instrument, the court may invoke the provisions of SCPA 2205, and direct an accounting on its own motion — if it deems it to be in the best interests of the estate to do so.