J.P. Morgan fights to block FINRA arbitration over competing trust claims

J.P. Morgan Securities and one of its advisors are fighting to keep a trust dispute out of FINRA — with potential takeaways for wealth professionals. 

The firm and Private Client Advisor Ryan Riviere filed a federal action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa (Case No. 4:26-cv-00125-SMR-HCA) on March 20, seeking to block a FINRA arbitration proceeding they say they never agreed to. The filing alleges that after a client's death, two competing living trusts surfaced — each claiming rights to the same brokerage account. Now, the firm says it is caught in the middle with no clear legal direction on who to pay. 

According to the filing, the brokerage account was opened on August 28, 2023, under the Living Trust of Erik Alexander West, dated June 8, 2023. Riviere, a FINRA-registered advisor working out of Polk County, Iowa, assisted with setting up the account. 

The firm alleges that West later created a second trust in November 2024, amended in December of that year, naming a different successor trustee — Matthew Hemphill — and a partially different set of beneficiaries. But West never contacted JPMS or Riviere about the new trust and never requested the account be moved, the filing states. 

The trouble started in December 2025 when Mollie Pawlosky, identified in the filing as a representative of the 2024 trust, contacted Riviere and demanded the account funds be handed over. Riviere escalated the matter internally. The firm did not release the funds. 

Hemphill then took the dispute to FINRA by filing a Statement of Claim. JPMS and Riviere argue he had no standing to do so. Their position is straightforward: the 2024 trust was never their client. The firm's arbitration agreement defines its customer narrowly — as the client of JPMS, whether individual, joint, or entity/trust — and does not extend to successors or beneficiaries. Since the 2024 trust never held the account, neither Hemphill nor the trust qualifies as a "customer" under FINRA Rule 12200, the filing contends. 

The firm also draws a clear line between itself and Chase, noting the two are separate legal entities with separate arbitration frameworks. A prior arbitration award issued through the American Arbitration Association involving Chase, it argues, has no bearing on who owns the JPMS brokerage account. 

JPMS and Riviere are asking the court for three things: a declaration that FINRA has no jurisdiction over this dispute, an injunction to stop the arbitration from going forward, and permission to deposit the account funds with the court through an interpleader action so a judge — not a FINRA panel — can determine the rightful owner. 

For advisors, the case is a sharp reminder of what can go wrong when a client's estate planning happens beyond the advisor's line of sight. A trust you have never seen and a claimant you have never met could be enough to drag you into a proceeding you never signed up for. No ruling has been issued in this case.