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Factual Background:

Gilbert and Marcella Peters established a revocable living trust in 1991.  Marcella died in 1995.  Gilbert then transferred property out of the trust and amended the trust three times.  In 2008, Gilbert was found to be incapacitated and disabled, and his son Gilbert Jr. was appointed conservator of the Trust.  Gilbert’s other son, David, filed a petition seeking a declaratory judgment that, among other things, the Trust became irrevocable upon the death of Marcella and that David was a qualified beneficiary of the Trust and thus entitled to an accounting.  Gilbert Jr. then filed a motion for partial summary judgment on these counts.

St. Charles County Circuit Court, J. Cunningham, Held:

The circuit court granted Gilbert Jr’s motion for summary judgment.  David appealed.

Court of Appeals, J. Baker, Held:

Affirmed in part, and reversed in part.  A beneficiary who has a future contingent interest in trust property has standing to bring a cause of action for an accounting against the trustee.  When a settler is adjudicated totally incapacitated and disabled, the duties of the trustee are no longer owed exclusively to the settler but also to the beneficiaries of the trust.  Additionally, a beneficiary is always entitled to such information as is reasonably necessary to enable him to enforce his rights under the trust or present or redress a breach of trust.  As a beneficiary, David is entitled to an accounting of the Trust.

The paramount rule of construction in determining the meaning of a trust provision is that the grantor’s intent is controlling.  The Trust unambiguously states that Marcella and Gilbert intended for the trust to be revocable as long as one of them was still alive.  Thus, the Trust did not become irrevocable upon the death of Marcella.