In re Estate of Kurrelmeyer

While competent, Louis Kurrelmeyer granted his wife Martina (defendant) a durable power of attorney with broad authority including executing trust instruments and conveying real estate, limited only by a $10,000-per-year gift cap; after Louis lost competency, Martina used that authority to create an inter vivos trust and transfer the Clearwater property into it, granting herself broad control including sale rights and income and principal distributions for her own support, terms that diverged from Louis's will, which left her only a life estate in the property with the remainder to his children. After Louis's death, his son Louis Jr. and other children (plaintiffs) challenged Martina's authority to create the trust; the probate court upheld the trust, the superior court granted the children summary judgment on appeal, and Martina appealed to the Vermont Supreme Court.