Opinion
No. 99-694.
Opinion filed October 13, 1999.
An Appeal from a non-final order from the Circuit Court for Monroe County, Henry Martin, Judge, L.T. No. 97-20356.
Urban J.W. Patterson (Islamorada), for appellant.
Hershoff Lupino and Kurt Von Gonten (Tavernier), for appellee.
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and GODERICH and FLETCHER, JJ.
The trial judge ordered the appellant, the trustee of an inter vivos trust established by Julia Mary Singleton, to pay from trust assets the legal expenses incurred by the appellee, the Michigan guardian of the person and property of Ms. Singleton, in an attempt to secure the transfer of the trust assets to the Michigan guardianship. There is no statutory or other satisfactory legal justification for the award of these expenses. See Cohen v. Friedland, 450 So.2d 905, 906 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984) ("In the absence of proof that the trustee has failed to perform, or has performed arbitrarily, a court is without authority to remove trust assets from control of the trustee to be administered by the court or other guardian.") The order under review is therefore
Reversed.