In Bruner v. Bruner, Case No. SJC-10653 (Jan. 27,
2011), the Supreme Judicial Court approved the reformation of a
trust to conform with the settlor's intent.
The trust instrument provides that its assets are to be divided
between two subtrusts: the "marital trust" for the
benefit of the settlor's surviving spouse, and the "family
trust" for the benefit of the remaining named beneficiaries
and their issue. Unfortunately, because of a decline in the value
of the assets since the settlor's death, there would have been
nothing left for the family trust after the marital trust was
funded pursuant to the formula in the trust instrument.
The trustees sought to reform the trust to allow the family trust
to be funded first, with the remaining assets allocated to the
marital trust. The trustees argued that this modification would be
consistent with the settlor's intent to fund the family trust
and to minimize the eventual taxes on her surviving spouse's
estate by reducing
