The Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled in a precedential case that trust assets can be withdrawn and stored elsewhere while the beneficiary is in the midst of divorce proceedings.

The dispute concerns a Massachusetts irrevocable trust established for Paul Ferri Jr. in 1983, when he was 18. The contents were distributed by its trustees and placed in a new trust without his knowledge in 2011 while his divorce from Nancy Powell-Ferri was pending. The first trust allowed Ferri to make limited withdrawals at certain intervals. The new trust allowed him to take out any amount at any time, subject to the discretion of the trustees, which included his brother.

Powell-Ferri claimed the trust was valued at $98 million, and requested $50 million of that. Ferri said the trust was valued at $80 million and the trustees put the figure at $69 million.