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Decedent was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1986. As a
result of surgery and chemotherapy, the cancer went into
remission until 1991, when it returned in the form of malignant
lymphoma. Decedent waged a continuing battle with the disease
until her death from the condition approximately 5 years later.
During 1993, decedent met with her attorney and her children
on several occasions for the purpose of planning the passage of
decedent’s property in the event of her death. Decedent had
three adult children from her first marriage to William F.
Rector: Ann Rector Lewis, William F. Rector, Jr., and Nancy
Rector. Decedent had married her second, and surviving, husband,
John F. Trotter, Sr. (Mr. Trotter), several years after William
F. Rector’s death.
At one such meeting, on December 17, 1993, decedent created
an irrevocable trust entitled the Eleanor Trotter Grandchildren
Trust (the trust). The named beneficiaries of the trust were
“the grandchildren of Eleanor T. Trotter and the issue thereof,
if any”, and the designated trustee was decedent’s daughter, Ann
Rector Lewis. As of that date, decedent had five grandchildren,
two of whom were adults and three of whom were minors.
The trust instrument provided that, during the term of the
trust, the trustee was required to hold, manage, invest, and
reinvest the trust property for the benefit of the beneficiaries.
The document also authorized the trustee to distribute income and
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