Estate – Trust Beneficiary

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WI Court of Appeals – District IV

Case Name: Mickey Owen, et al. v. Michael Kozlowski, et al.

Case No.: 2018AP290

Officials: Blanchard, Sherman, and Kloppenburg, JJ.

Focus: Estate – Trust Beneficiary

Mickey Owen appeals the circuit court’s judgment determining that Mickey is not a beneficiary of the Patsy L. Kozlowski Survivor’s Trust. He argues that, read in light of the surrounding circumstances, a Will executed by Patsy Kozlowski amended the Trust to include Mickey as a beneficiary. In the alternative, he argues that extrinsic evidence shows that Patsy intended to include Mickey as a beneficiary of the Trust.

We conclude that the Will, read in light of the surrounding circumstances, is ambiguous because it is unclear as to what benefits Patsy intended Mickey to receive under the Will. We also conclude that the circuit court’s determination that Patsy did not intend to use the Will to include Mickey as a beneficiary of the Trust is not against the great weight and clear preponderance of the extrinsic evidence presented at trial. Accordingly, we affirm.

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.