Wilcox v. Gentry

Frank Gentry's revocable trust held assets in discretionary trust for Isabell Gentry (defendant), with the trustee having sole discretion over distributions and no spendthrift provision. The Wilcoxes (plaintiffs) obtained a money judgment against Isabell and sought to garnish trust distributions to satisfy it. The trial court held that direct payments to Isabell could be garnished but payments made to third parties on her behalf could not, and the court of appeals affirmed; the Wilcoxes appealed.

Whether, when a discretionary trust contains no spendthrift provision, a creditor may garnish payments the trustee makes on the beneficiary's behalf to third parties, and not only payments made directly to the beneficiary.