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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowOral arguments before the Indiana Supreme Court this week will focus on the question of when family members can enter into settlement agreements regarding the distribution of an estate’s assets.
In an August opinion on an issue of first impression in In the Matter of the Supervised Estate of Gary D. Kent, 55S01-1712-ES-747, the Indiana Court of Appeals determined such agreements can be made before the testator dies. Thus, the court upheld a settlement agreement between John Kent and Cynthia Kerr – Gary Kent’s children – that the siblings had agreed to before their father died, at his request.
After their father’s death, John Kent attempted to rescind the settlement agreement, but the appellate court granted summary judgment to his sister under Indiana Code section 29-1-9-1, which the court found permits family settlement agreements that are executed prior to a decedent’s death. Indiana’s high court will now decide if that ruling can stand.
Oral arguments in the Kent case will begin at 9 a.m. Thursday in the Indiana Supreme Court courtroom at the Indiana statehouse.
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