Marshall Senterfitt
Partner
Overview
Marshall Senterfitt is a private wealth service attorney in Holland & Knight's Boston and New York offices. Mr. Senterfitt advises clients in litigating and resolving high-stakes trust and estate (T&E) disputes, including fiduciary duty claims, trust and will contests, and a wide range of other trust, probate, and fiduciary litigation matters. He represents clients in state and federal courts, administrative agency proceedings and in all forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR).
In addition to his fiduciary litigation practice, Mr. Senterfitt serves as an advisor to trustees, personal representatives (executors), and other private and professional fiduciaries in trust, estate and financial matters. His advisory practice includes developing strategies to resolve complex challenges and protect clients from potential claims and liability. Mr. Senterfitt frequently assists clients in private and judicial trust modifications and in the preparation and execution of documents and agreements that address the administration of trusts and estates. He also advises fiduciaries in connection with fiduciary accounts and other discretionary and required disclosures.
Mr. Senterfitt also works with private individuals, families, trusts and trustees, and institutional beneficiaries, as well as professional service providers and organizations.
Mr. Senterfitt is among a small group of lawyers in the Northeast who dedicate their practice almost entirely to resolving trust, estate and fiduciary disputes. Mr. Senterfitt strives to understand each client's unique circumstances and goals in order to help them navigate all aspects of a particular matter in the most efficient and effective manner possible.
In addition to his legal practice, Mr. Senterfitt is a regular presenter on fiduciary litigation and related topics at bar association and continuing legal education (CLE) seminars and conferences.
Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Mr. Senterfitt was an attorney for a national law firm in its Boston office.
Representative Experience
- Obtained a multimillion-dollar settlement for a plaintiff in a will contest challenging the validity of a prior waiver and asserting claims of undue influence, breach of fiduciary duty and lack of testamentary capacity
- Won a seven-figure arbitration award and attorneys fees for a client asserting breaches of fiduciary duties arising out of the transaction of real property between two closely held companies
- Established existence of trust and contemporaneous termination resulting in the transfer of multimillion-dollar properties to an institutional client
- Obtained a substantial settlement for plaintiffs challenging estate documents on the basis of undue influence, lack of capacity and breaches of fiduciary duty
- Won a multimillion-dollar arbitration award for the co-founder and president of a closely held corporation in a breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty case
- Consult with and prepare expert witnesses in probate and fiduciary litigation, land use and real property matters, as well as complex business litigation
Credentials
- Northeastern University School of Law, J.D.
- University of Massachusetts Amherst, B.A., Communications, cum laude
- Massachusetts
- New York
- U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
- American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), Fellow, 2022-Present
- Greater Boston Fiduciary Law American Inn of Court, Board Member, 2018-Present; President, 2018-2021
- Boston Bar Association, former Fiduciary Litigation Committee, Co-Chair, 2016-Present
- Chambers High Net Worth guide, Private Wealth Disputes: Massachusetts, 2022-2024
- Massachusetts Super Lawyers magazine, Estate and Trust Litigation, 2022-2024
- Rising Star, Massachusetts Super Lawyers magazine, Estate and Trust Litigation, 2016-2019
- Boston Rising Star, National Law Journal, 2015