08/18/2026
🏛️ APPELLATE WIN: We're proud to share that James Hickmon and Jeremy Canipe secured a unanimous victory for our client before the North Carolina Court of Appeals in In re Russo, No. COA25-321 (Jan. 7, 2026).
Our client, Devin R. Russo, stood to inherit his late grandfather's home through a trust — but the law firm that drafted the will had named itself as trustee and successor executor, and for over five years no one administered the estate at all. When our client asked a court to sort it out, the other side tried to use the will's no-contest clause to shut him out entirely.
The Court of Appeals agreed with us on every point:
✅ Asking a court to enforce a will isn't “contesting” it — the no-contest clause didn't apply, and our client had standing.
✅ A law firm organized as a PLLC cannot legally serve as trustee under North Carolina's trust institution laws.
✅ That same law firm cannot serve as executor either — corporate entities need specific statutory authority that PLLCs don't have.
✅ The five-year delay in qualifying an executor deserved a real hearing, not a paper dismissal.
The trial court's dismissal was reversed, the denial of our client's costs and fees was vacated, and the case is headed back for further proceedings.
This decision is a big deal for estate planning: naming your own law firm as trustee or executor of a client's estate simply isn't legally effective in North Carolina. Only individual attorneys — not the firms they practice through — can serve in that fiduciary role.
Proud of this result for our client and grateful for the trust he placed in our firm.
📖 Read the opinion: https://www.nccourts.gov/documents/appellate-court-opinions/in-re-russo
