At issue in the current court case is who controls the trustees of Redstone’s trust, which will control his assets after he dies. His daughter and her son are trustees, along with five non-family members. Redstone recently ousted two of these trustees, and they now contend that Redstone is incapacitated and has been unduly influenced by his daughter.
The high-stakes courtroom drama intensified when Keryn Redstone, the daughter of Sumner Redstone’s estranged son Brent and a beneficiary of his trust, announced that she would side with the two ousted trustees.
Various instruments are available that may forestall these kinds of problems, Adinolfi said. A trust, either revocable or irrevocable, can be one way to head off contention over the grantor’s competence. In this regard, trusts are most effective when incapacity is precisely defined, and who will determine competency is spelled out.
Redstone’s irrevocable trust, which controls his assets, including Viacom and CBS, does not define capacity, accord to reports. As the trust’s sole beneficiary, he can make all decisions pertaining to the trust until he is determined to be incapacitated. As no one has been designated to determine incapacity, only a court can make such a determination in his case.
Adinolfi said that in less-contentious family situations, the benefactor can bring all interested parties to the table, lay out his or her intentions and have everyone sign off on the fact of the person’s competency.
However, she said, “The reality is that people will litigate, no matter what the plans are,” especially when a lot of money is at stake.