Matter of Hunter

In Matter of Hunter (190 Misc. 2d 593) Surrogate Scarpino vacated a waiver and consent obtained in a trustee's accounting proceeding after conducting an evidentiary hearing. The facts revealed that the beneficiary executed the waiver and consent with our ever having seen the summary statement at an informal breakfast meeting with an employee of the corporate fiduciary. In Hunter there was a long-standing fiduciary relationship that was relied upon by the beneficiary. Moreover the waiver and consent was fatally defective that the stating, as required that the signatory had the opportunity to review the summary statement of the account. The Hunter court ruled that the fiduciary status if the trustee shifted the burden of proof to the trustee to prove that the execution of the waiver and consent was free from fraud or mis-conduct.