In re Henry B. Wilson, Jr., Revocable Trust, 915 N.W.2d 50

Henry B. Wilson, Jr. died in 2010; his revocable trust (Henry’s Trust) directed that certain real estate be divided into three unequal subtrusts for his three children (Lou Ann, Roger, Roseann).
After Henry’s death, Roseann and Roger served as successor cotrustees of Henry’s Trust and copersonal representatives of the estate.
The cotrustees transferred real estate to the three subtrusts but did not take separate administrative steps for the subtrusts (no separate accounts, tax IDs, or returns); they continued to operate the trusts collectively.
Lou Ann sued, alleging fiduciary breaches by Roseann and Roger (commingling, inadequate records, paying personal expenses, failing to distribute income to Lou Ann). County Court found serious breaches, removed Roseann and Roger as cotrustees of Henry’s Trust (but not as to subtrusts), ordered accounting, surcharged them, and appointed a successor trustee.
The Nebraska Court of Appeals affirmed but interpreted the county court’s order as also removing the cotrustees of Lou Ann’s subtrust. The Nebraska Supreme Court granted further review and held the Court of Appeals erred in that narrow interpretation but nonetheless affirmed the judgment in outcome.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Removal of cotrustees of Henry’s Trust	Lou Ann: cotrustees breached duties and should be removed from Henry’s Trust	Roseann & Roger: removal should be limited or reversed	County Court removal of Roseann & Roger as cotrustees of Henry’s Trust affirmed.
Removal of cotrustees of Lou Ann’s subtrust	Lou Ann: county court’s order should remove cotrustees of her subtrust too	Roseann & Roger: subtrust administration was not pled or tried; county court did not remove them as subtrust trustees	Supreme Court: county court did NOT remove cotrustees of subtrusts; Court of Appeals erred in so holding.
Surcharge for improper payments	Lou Ann: surcharge for Trust payments to be higher and properly calculated	Cotrustees: surcharge incorrect/overstated	Court of Appeals modestly increased the surcharge; overall surcharge upheld.
Exclusion of subtrust evidence at trial	Lou Ann: evidence about subtrust administration and damages should have been admitted	Cotrustees: such evidence was beyond the petition’s scope and properly excluded	County Court acted within pleadings bounds; exclusion upheld.

In re Trust of Shire, 299 Neb. 25 (discussing scope of appellate review for trust administration)
In re Estate of Radford, 297 Neb. 748 (appellate review principles for trust/estate matters)
In re Estate of Robb, 21 Neb. App. 429 (removal of trustee treated as equity question)
In re Estate of Hasterlik, 299 Neb. 630 (standards for reviewing judgments on the record)
In re Conservatorship of Abbott, 295 Neb. 510 (issues generally limited to those pled)