What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? - I'm in Utah, but the Will was created in Oregon (if that matters).
My question has a bit of backstory, but it's brief. My mother died unexpectedly a few years ago and left my brother and I (21 and 25, respectively) her living will / trust to carry out.
She left my Aunt as the Trustee and my brother and I as the beneficiaries. However, I'm a bit anxious and frustrated for a few reasons - and want some advice.
The will states that half of each half (1/4th total) of the estate should be made available to my brother and I on his 25th birthday. Then, when each of us turn 30, the rest of our half. This has the odd side-effect of me being 29 when I receive the first 1/4th, and then 4 months later receiving the 2nd 1/4th.
Throughout the process of gathering all the assets into the Trust, it was mostly my aunt, grandmother, and brother doing it. I'm currently at college, and everything happened mid-semester. They did a great job of it, since it had everything from collecting insurance to having a house assessed. Afterwards, though, my Aunt stuck everything in a Savings Account... where it's been sitting. The Trust specifically says to invest the assets, but doesn't give any specific mention of what in - I assume leaving it up to the Trustee. I know that, technically, the Savings Account does earn interest and might considered an investment. However, I'm also positive (and have the numbers to back it up) that I could get the same % interest per month that the account gets per year. I've taken a personal finance, business, and investing courses (not that I'm a business Major, but they're required by the Will) with a 1.5% return per month over the last year and a half.
I've petitioned my Aunt a few times to let me have my 1/4th early so that I could invest it as I see fit, and get a jump-start on whatever I might need it for. Currently, the Trust helps me with my college expenses to a large degree (as delineated by the Trust itself), and I've calculated that after taxes at 1.5% per month I could sustain myself indeifnitely where I'm at and be well-off for grad school in a year (with the potential to graduate debt-free). If it sits in the bank, the interest won't even off-set any significant amount of the expenditures, and I might as well be taking away from my brother as well.
I'm not especially close to my Aunt, but she's a good person. I see her at family barbecues, am semi-close to her sons and husband. I simply disapprove of how she's handling the trust now that everything's come down to letting it sit in the bank and paying taxes.
Every time I petition for investments or when I gave her a proposal for my 1/4th, she goes to a lawyer friend of hers for advice who tells her to go strictly by what the Trust says. She doesn't do this for other expenditures (i.e. - my brother asked for the funds to help get a new car since I got my mother's '02 Nissan, and my Aunt simply asked me if I thought it was all right), but apparently if it's a significant enough portion, despite my brother's approval, she's hesitant.
I understand this to a large extent. She's playing in her comfort zone, but it's definitely not my comfort zone.
The final bit is; my brother is getting shipped to Camp Pendleton to be trained as a Marine anytime in the next couple of weeks (they only give him 48 hours notice), and I am unsure of how she's going to react after he's gone. If her response stays the same and requires his consent, it will be very difficult, if not impossible for the first 6 months, and then just very sparse/difficult after that for the next four years. This has provided incentive for me to get things straight now, as opposed to later.
In the end, I guess I want to know:
Is there any precedence anywhere that would allow me to acquire my 1/4th now and invest it as I see fit? I'm under the impression that enforcement of trusts falls to the beneficiaries, of whom my brother and I are the only ones. I've talked extensively with him about this, and I had his approval for the move (he actually helped me draft the proposal to my Aunt) along with the numbers to back up my capability to sustain myself, but her lawyer friend said there wasn't anything that could be done (no offense to anyone here, but having never met the lawyer and only conversed with her through e-mail and one 5-minute phone call, I can't vouch for her ability at all - particularly when she charges me $300 for an e-mail that says "Call me.")
If not, where should I approach the issue of investing the amount properly? We do pay her to manage it, but it's basically writing a few checks to the University and doing taxes. I'm not sure it warrants what we pay her, but she's family and I know her eldest is heading to college soon, so I don't mind it that much.
Lastly, any other advice? The situation is a bit convoluted, but I'd appreciate any help.
Thank you in advance to any replies!What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
My question has a bit of backstory, but it's brief. My mother died unexpectedly a few years ago and left my brother and I (21 and 25, respectively) her living will / trust to carry out.
She left my Aunt as the Trustee and my brother and I as the beneficiaries. However, I'm a bit anxious and frustrated for a few reasons - and want some advice.
The will states that half of each half (1/4th total) of the estate should be made available to my brother and I on his 25th birthday. Then, when each of us turn 30, the rest of our half. This has the odd side-effect of me being 29 when I receive the first 1/4th, and then 4 months later receiving the 2nd 1/4th.
Throughout the process of gathering all the assets into the Trust, it was mostly my aunt, grandmother, and brother doing it. I'm currently at college, and everything happened mid-semester. They did a great job of it, since it had everything from collecting insurance to having a house assessed. Afterwards, though, my Aunt stuck everything in a Savings Account... where it's been sitting. The Trust specifically says to invest the assets, but doesn't give any specific mention of what in - I assume leaving it up to the Trustee. I know that, technically, the Savings Account does earn interest and might considered an investment. However, I'm also positive (and have the numbers to back it up) that I could get the same % interest per month that the account gets per year. I've taken a personal finance, business, and investing courses (not that I'm a business Major, but they're required by the Will) with a 1.5% return per month over the last year and a half.
I've petitioned my Aunt a few times to let me have my 1/4th early so that I could invest it as I see fit, and get a jump-start on whatever I might need it for. Currently, the Trust helps me with my college expenses to a large degree (as delineated by the Trust itself), and I've calculated that after taxes at 1.5% per month I could sustain myself indeifnitely where I'm at and be well-off for grad school in a year (with the potential to graduate debt-free). If it sits in the bank, the interest won't even off-set any significant amount of the expenditures, and I might as well be taking away from my brother as well.
I'm not especially close to my Aunt, but she's a good person. I see her at family barbecues, am semi-close to her sons and husband. I simply disapprove of how she's handling the trust now that everything's come down to letting it sit in the bank and paying taxes.
Every time I petition for investments or when I gave her a proposal for my 1/4th, she goes to a lawyer friend of hers for advice who tells her to go strictly by what the Trust says. She doesn't do this for other expenditures (i.e. - my brother asked for the funds to help get a new car since I got my mother's '02 Nissan, and my Aunt simply asked me if I thought it was all right), but apparently if it's a significant enough portion, despite my brother's approval, she's hesitant.
I understand this to a large extent. She's playing in her comfort zone, but it's definitely not my comfort zone.
The final bit is; my brother is getting shipped to Camp Pendleton to be trained as a Marine anytime in the next couple of weeks (they only give him 48 hours notice), and I am unsure of how she's going to react after he's gone. If her response stays the same and requires his consent, it will be very difficult, if not impossible for the first 6 months, and then just very sparse/difficult after that for the next four years. This has provided incentive for me to get things straight now, as opposed to later.
In the end, I guess I want to know:
Is there any precedence anywhere that would allow me to acquire my 1/4th now and invest it as I see fit? I'm under the impression that enforcement of trusts falls to the beneficiaries, of whom my brother and I are the only ones. I've talked extensively with him about this, and I had his approval for the move (he actually helped me draft the proposal to my Aunt) along with the numbers to back up my capability to sustain myself, but her lawyer friend said there wasn't anything that could be done (no offense to anyone here, but having never met the lawyer and only conversed with her through e-mail and one 5-minute phone call, I can't vouch for her ability at all - particularly when she charges me $300 for an e-mail that says "Call me.")
If not, where should I approach the issue of investing the amount properly? We do pay her to manage it, but it's basically writing a few checks to the University and doing taxes. I'm not sure it warrants what we pay her, but she's family and I know her eldest is heading to college soon, so I don't mind it that much.
Lastly, any other advice? The situation is a bit convoluted, but I'd appreciate any help.
Thank you in advance to any replies!What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?