Order requiring co-trustees to pay attorney fees; The Michigan Trust Code (MTC); MCL 700.7814(3); Failure to use State Court Administrative Office (SCAO) forms for an inventory & an accounting; Requiring an inventory of personal property; Improper auctioning of personal property; Reliance on MCL 700.7906; The MTC’s applicability; Whether parties had any vested right as co-trustees before the effective date of the MTC; Distribution formula; Applicability of MCL 700.2718(1); Removal of co-trustees; Request for appellate sanctions

The court held that the probate court did not err in requiring appellants-former co-trustees to (1) pay attorney fees for the time spent addressing “objections to their inadequate inventory and accounting” and (2) provide an inventory of the trust’s personal property. It also did not err in finding “they improperly auctioned off” personal property. Further, they had “no fixed or vested right as co-trustees that” was destroyed by the MTC and thus, could not “establish an unconstitutional impairment of a contractual obligation.” The court also held that MCL 700.2718(1) did not apply, and that the trust language was consistent with language it had previously found shows “an intent to distribute per stirpes[.]” Thus, the probate court did not abuse its discretion in ruling as it did on the distribution formula. As to the attorney fee issue, appellants focused only on the probate court’s reference to SCAO forms and failed to “acknowledge that [it] determined the accounting and inventory they filed were unclear and incomplete. The [probate] court concluded that a more comprehensive accounting and inventory were necessary for the benefit of the successor trustee, [appellee-]Abbey. By directing the appellants to use court forms, [it] aimed to ensure compliance with statutory reporting requirements. The shortcomings of the previously ordered inventory and accounting resulted in [it] imposing attorney fees for the time spent by counsel for the beneficiaries.” As to requiring them to provide a personal property inventory, the MTC “requires an annual report of trust property that includes, inter alia, ‘a listing of the trust property and, if feasible, their respective market values . . . .’ Although the word ‘inventory’ is not used, the statutory language is consistent with that term. An inventory is ‘an itemized list of current assets: as (1): a catalog of the property of an individual or estate . . . .’” The court found that the fact MCL 700.7814(3) “does not use the word ‘inventory’ is immaterial. The statutory language requires what amounts to an inventory.” And as the MTC applied here, it was “unnecessary to determine whether the trust agreement also mandates an inventory.” The court further determined that appellants’ auctioning “the personal property before the will was filed” disregarded the will’s terms, “which provided for the gift of personal property to the named beneficiaries.” Among other things, it also found no abuse of discretion in their removal as co-trustees.