Most families spend years building wealth. Far fewer spend time making sure the legal structures protecting that wealth are actually doing their job. In this episode, Adam Koós,sits down with Professor Kelly Lise Murray, a lawyer, mediator, and legal scholar who spent nearly two decades at Vanderbilt University before turning her focus to wealth dispute resolution. Kelly hosts the Wealth Litigated podcast, where she breaks down real courtroom cases involving trusts, estates, and Family wealth disputes.
Together, Adam and Kelly walk through real litigated cases involving blended families, irrevocable trusts, prenuptial agreements, and costly filing errors. The goal is simple: learn from other families’ expensive mistakes so yours never has to become a case study.
Episode Timestamps
00:00 – Intro & guest background: Who is Kelly Lise Murray and what is the Wealth Litigated podcast
02:00 – Why estate planning disputes happen: The coordination problem between legal and financial documents
04:30 – Blended family estate planning: What the Marinakis v. Marinakis (Ohio) case teaches us
10:00 – California case: When a stepchild was allowed to inherit as a natural child
13:00 – The #1 most procrastinated item in financial planning (Adam’s 25-year observation)
14:00 – Trusts and your mortgage: The Garn-St. Germaine Act and what advisors rarely tell clients
16:00 – Property & casualty insurance and irrevocable trusts: A 2007 warning still being ignored
17:30 – Collins v. Flannery (Ohio): What happens when a surviving spouse controls an irrevocable trust
22:00 – Trustee abuse of a special needs trust: A Texas case with a co-trustee resolution
24:00 – Structural protections: Co-trustees, trust protectors, and professional fiduciaries
26:00 – The $800,000 missed checkbox: Estate of Griffin v. Commissioner (IRS Q-TIP case)
29:00 – Prenuptial agreements: What an Ohio case reveals about overreaching and enforceability
32:00 – Portability of estate plans across state lines
33:00 – Incapacity planning: What to do when a divorcing spouse still has your healthcare directive
35:00 – Final advice for families and financial advisors: Where to start this week
Key Takeaways
💡 The single biggest driver of wealth disputes is a lack of coordination between legal documents, financial accounts, and estate plans. A will, a trust, and a beneficiary designation that conflict with one another will be decided by the court, not by you.
💡 Blended families face amplified risk. Remarrying without updating your estate plan can give a new spouse statutory rights that override your existing will, and may even leave your ex-in-laws as heirs.
💡 Transferring your home into a trust without checking your mortgage terms, insurance policy, and applicable statutes first can trigger your loan being called due immediately and invalidate your homeowner’s insurance claim.
💡 Execution errors can be just as damaging as planning errors. A missed checkbox on an estate tax return cost one family over $800,000 in a federal IRS case. Two sets of eyes on every filing is a structural safeguard, not a formality.
💡 Structural protections like co-trustees, professional fiduciaries, and trust protectors exist specifically to prevent a sole trustee from depleting an estate without accountability. These are worth building in from the beginning.
💡 If you move to a different state, your existing estate plan, trust, and prenuptial agreement may no longer work as intended. Every lifecycle change and every geographic move warrants a legal review.
Key Quotes
🗣 “The lack of coordination leads to litigation. That is the biggest takeaway of our discussion today.” – Kelly Lise Murray
🗣 “It’s not a matter of if, it’s when you get involved in some sort of litigation.” – Kelly Lise Murray (citing a common refrain among estate attorneys)
🗣 “The number one most procrastinated financial planning item is estate planning. Without a doubt.” – Adam Koos, CFP®, CMT, CFTe, CEPA
🗣 “This is not estate planning in a box. You need actually licensed legal advice from a lawyer in your state.” – Kelly Lise Murray
🗣 “I’ve been talking about this since 2007 because we still haven’t gotten the word out enough.” – Kelly Lise Murray (on trust and insurance coordination)
Connect with the Guest
Guest: Kelly Lise Murray, JD – Lawyer, Mediator & Legal Scholar
Website (Wealth Litigated): https://www.wealthlitigated.com
Website (Vetting the House): https://www.vettingthehouse.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kellylisemurray
Connect with Libertas Wealth
Facebook: https://facebook.com/libertaswealth
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/libertas.wealth
Twitter / X: https://x.com/LibertasWM
Podcast YouTube Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhkYzW1XyJA0Ef_Hf7nUCMGLSlmfHt43v
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/29Jrqu0MV1VrpRGqgm6seV?si=d98161c1ec484a85
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-retirement-fiduciary-podcast/id1029927148
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 614-543-1350
Website: https://www.libertaswealth.com
Connect with Adam Koós
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamkoos
Website: https://www.LibertasWealth.com
