- 23 -
shall be maintained at a level established by the limited
Guardian ad litem in his sole discretion.
Even the decree to compromise Mr. Nicholas Abraham, Sr.’s will
expressly contemplated that decedent would retain the right to
all the income generated:
The undersigned agree to compromise the will of Nicholas
Abraham by substituting for the Nicholas Abraham 1987 Trust
four (4) separate trusts, each of which shall have as
trustee one (1) of the four (4) living children of Nicholas
Abraham (Nicholas A. Abraham, Donna Cawley, Richard Abraham,
and Diana Slater). The current income beneficiary of each
trust shall be Ida Abraham, the surviving spouse * * *.
Each trustee shall have the power to invade principal for
the benefit of Ida Abraham * * * in the trustee’s sole
discretion necessary for the health, support, and
maintenance of Ida Abraham * * *.
Decedent’s retention of the right to all income that the
FLPs generated is evident from testimony elicited at trial. Ms.
Cawley testified as follows:
Q: Did you have any pre-arrangement with Mr. Goldman other
than the Court order as to how –- what income or assets that
your mother could receive?
A: No. The arrangement was my mother lives a status quo
time. The [sic] always lived. Nothing was to change.
* * * * * * *
A: * * * And my mother needed to be protected. And the
only way to protect her was to form these partnerships.
Paid off her legal fees by using her personal assets, but
the partnerships assured me that she would be constantly
protected. She would never want for anything. There would
always be money there. And if there wasn’t money in her
partnership fund, it had to come out of my partnership
shares or my brother’s, but the protection was there for her
as a guarantee that she would live status quo.
* * * * * * *
Page: Previous 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 NextLast modified: May 25, 2011