Wealth Litigated · 2026-05-07 · 47 min
What happens when a Massachusetts divorce court reaches into a Michigan irrevocable trust and pulls out $1.17 million for an ex-son-in-law?. Despite a spendthrift clause and an independent trustee with "sole and absolute discretion," a 2023 appellate decision in the Jones case proved that some "divorce-proof" trust designs aren't as bulletproof as they look. In this episode, Professor Kelly Lise Murray, JD analyzes how a single verb in a trust provision - and the "woven fabric" of a high-net-worth marriage - led to a massive clawback for a spouse who wasn't even a beneficiary. What You’ll Learn The $1.17M Verb: Why the choice to "postpone" rather than "terminate" a distribution changed the legal status of the trust from a speculative expectancy to a fixed marital asset. The "Woven into the Fabric" Standard: How a mother’s history of "showering" the family with gifts created a marital standard of living that the court felt compelled to maintain. Jurisdiction Jumping: Why a trust governed by Michigan law lost its protection when the beneficiaries divorced in the "all-property" state of Massachusetts.
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