Day v. Seblatnigg

Excerpt

Pursuant to statute ((Rev. to 2011) § 45a-655 (a)), ''[a] conservator of the estate appointed under section 45a-646 . . . shall manage all the estate and . . . shall use the least restrictive means of intervention in the exercise of the conservator's duties and authority.'' Pursuant further to statute ((Rev. to 2011) § 45a-655 (e)), ''[u]pon application of a conservator of the estate . . . the court may authorize the conserva- tor to make gifts or other transfers of income and principal from the estate of the conserved person in such amounts and in such form, outright or in trust, whether to an existing trust or a court-approved trust created by the conservator, as the court orders . . . .'' The plaintiff, the coconservator of the estate of E, sought a judgment declar- ing that a certain irrevocable trust was void ab initio and unenforceable, and that any and all assets transferred from E's estate to the trust be returned to the estate. The Probate Court previously had granted the application of E, who suffered from Parkinson's disease, for the volun- tary appointment of a conservator of her person and her estate pursuant to the voluntary conservatorship statute ((Rev. to 2011) § 45a-646). The Probate Court appointed the named defendant, S, as the conservator of E's estate and issued a decree providing that S had the power to manage the estate, to apply estate funds to support E, to pay her debts, and to collect debts due to her. Thereafter, S met with representatives of the defendant F Co. At their recommendation, S, in her capacity as conservator of E's estate, entered into an asset protection services agreement on E's behalf with F Co.'s corporate affiliate and established a self-settled irrevocable asset protection trust. S supervised E's execu- tion of the instrument creating the irrevocable trust but did not seek or obtain the Probate Court's approval. The irrevocable trust named S as a trustee and F Co. as the protector of the trust. Thereafter, S directed th