Planner Says 'Livid' Kouri Richins Called About Husband's Trust After He Died

Описание: Kristal Bowman-Carter is an estate planning attorney in Park City, Utah, who was hired by Eric Richins to finalize a business agreement for his business, C&E Stone Masonry, and to plane his estate.

She testified in Kouri Richins' murder trial on Wednesday (March 4, day 8).

00:57 "Did you meet with him in person?"
"Yes."
"How many times?"
"At least four."
"Did you know Kouri Richins?"
"I know of her. I've talked to her on the phone on the day that Eric died."

01:47 "A buy-sell agreement is a contract between owners of a company that sets out the terms in advance, what will happen when there is a transfer of a business interest, whether it's by sale or because of an owner's disability or their death."
"Are buy-sell agreements, in your experience, are they common?"
"Yes."

05:08 "So the basic estate plan that everyone needs is a will, a durable power of attorney and health care directive, and sometimes, most of the time in my practice, you also need to trust to avoid probate and to protect the beneficiaries of your estate plan from themselves or from others."
'
06:25 "That's my estate planning worksheet filled out by partially by Eric and partially by me."

07:42 "So this is the document, the premarital agreement that you reviewed. What does section paragraph one, section five, again, the non lawyer version. What does this say?"
"So, what it says is that C&E Stone Masonry would remain Eric's separate property to dispose of as he wished during his life after his marriage to Kouri Richins."

08:56 "So that section addresses primarily Kouri's rights in C&E property that she might have under the law at Eric's death. Can I elaborate?"
"Sure."
"Okay, so if you don't have a premarital agreement, then you have rights in your spouse's estate. And when you're a nuclear family with no children from a prior marriage, as they were, that means that if your spouse dies, you get, you are entitled to at least 1/3 of the augmented estate..."

10:56 "He didn't want us to communicate with him by email. That happened a little bit later, but because he was worried that Kouri would be reading..."

15:30 "That's the section where Eric expressed his intentions for the disposition of his remains. He wanted to be buried upon his death."

17:16 a trust "is a contract between the party who drafts it, the party who's going to benefit from it and the party who's going to administer it. So initially, a trust is a contract between you, me, myself and I. Eric was the grantor. He created the rules for the trust. Eric was the trustee. That means he was the manager of the trust, of all the assets that were contained in the trust, and have to follow the rules that he set."

18:49 "The trustee is the person who has legal title to the assets in the trust and is charged with managing those assets for the benefit of the beneficiaries of the trust."

19:52 "Describe for the jury, in layman's terms, what what this section of the trust means as it pertains to Kouri Richins."

23:15 "And what effect did Eric Richins' power of attorney have on his estate plan. Or who did he choose as his power of attorney?"
"He chose Katie Richins-Benson."
'
24:32 Do you know why Eric was concerned about the repercussions he would face if he told Kouri?"

25:54 "Did there come a time when you learned that Eric Richins had died?"
"Yes, I learned that day that he had died, March, 4, 2022."

26:37 "And did you talk to Kouri on the phone that day?"
"Yes."
"What did you tell her?"
"Apparently, she was upset about the house, and I was asked to explain that there was an estate plan in place and that the house belonged to the trust. And that's what I told her."
"When you were explaining to Kouri Richins that the house belonged in the trust, how did she react?"
"Not positively. She was livid. She was upset. And she said, What is wrong with you people? And handed the phone back to the officer, I believe."

27:45 "She told me the house belonged to her."

29:34 "I pointed out several things, including that the will called for burial..."
"Kouri was seeking to have his body cremated, so I wanted to make sure..."

31:01 "Usually people need to get through the services and grieve a little bit. If the property is secure, there's no reason to open probate right away. But in this case, Eric had a fully funded trust. I never would have opened probate if we were just administering the trust. That's the whole reason you have a trust is to avoid having to go to court make everything public."

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