Ackley v. Loughlin

In Ackley v. Loughlin, 406 So. 2d 832 (Ala. 1981), the settlor's widow filed an action to have her stepdaughter removed as trustee. The widow was an income beneficiary of the trust, and the settlor's daughter was the remainder beneficiary. The trial court removed the settlor's daughter as trustee for, among other reasons, "hostility between the parties, delays in furnishing of money to the widow, and a controversy concerning the daughter's unauthorized use of some of the assets of the estate." Id. at 833. The Alabama Supreme Court affirmed, finding "an abundance of evidence of such hostility as justified the removal of Mrs. Ackley. Among other things, she quite evidently treated her stepmother very high-handedly and arbitrarily." Id.