Justices take trust case after hearing arguments

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After hearing arguments June 6 in a dispute over the sale of a family farm, the Indiana Supreme Court has decided to take the case.

The justices granted transfer to Harold O. Fulp Jr. v. Nancy A Gilliland, Individually and as Successor Trustee of the Ruth E. Fulp Revocable Trust Dated June 29, 2005, 41S01-1306-TR-426.

The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled in August 2012 that Nancy Gilliland, individually and as successor of the trust, did not tortiously interfere with a contract that Harold Fulp had signed to purchase farmland his mother, Ruth Fulp, owns in a trust. He farmed the land on a rental basis.

The COA also held that Ruth Fulp at age 91 could properly execute a purchase agreement, and the family dynamic was a factor in her agreeing to sell the property below market value.

Ruth was the grantor, trustee and sole lifetime beneficiary of a revocable living trust when she entered into the agreement with her son to sell the land to him. Shortly thereafter, she resigned as trustee and her daughter, Gilliland, as successor trustee, repudiated the purchase agreement.

The justices also granted transfer to one other case last week, Robert Bowen v. State of Indiana, 08S02-1306-CR-423, in which they released an opinion June 14.

View the complete transfer list for the week ending June 14.

 

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