Kim Williams v. The Lewis Preservation Trust

Syllabus

In 2012, Robert and Elizabeth Ann Lewis created a revocable trust and transferred thereto their rental property business as well as real estate. Several years later, after Robert was deceased and Elizabeth had become incapacitated, one of the Lewis' sons, acting as Elizabeth's attorney-in-fact, created a new trust with terms different from that of the original. A different Lewis sibling, Kim Williams, disputed the son's authority to create the second trust pursuant to both the terms of the original trust and his power of attorney. Kim Williams claimed, inter alia, that the son breached several fiduciary duties in creating the second trust. Following discovery and an unsuccessful mediation, the Chancery Court for Rhea County (the \trial court\) denied Ms. Williams' motion for summary judgment and granted the defendants' cross-motion for summary judgment. Ms. Williams appeals. Having reviewed the record and arguments of the parties, we conclude that the trial court's ruling is affirmed in part, reversed in part, and vacated in part, and the case remanded for further proceedings.