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Can you change or ad something or one to a family?

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T

tryagian

Guest
I'am the trustee of my parents family trust.
My father died May 1995, and my mother died
Oct 1995. Since then I have'nt transfered there
estates to my name. I wanted to be fair to my
Brother and Half sister so we had an attorney
(The same one who did the trust) put all three
of us as as trustee? This was June 1998. Since
then my brother stayed living in my parents home.
Him being a drug user and now in and out of
mental hospitals gave his share of the estate
to our half sisters son who has also been
living at my parents home, with his 16 year old
son and a few of his friends? The house now is
a mess, My brother needs to be in a mental home,
and I wish I never had all 3 of us acting as
trustee. In the trust the estate is to go to
my brother and I with myself having first rights.
Our half sister was
to recieve 10,000.00 and did. The rest was to
my brother and I. I was told you can't change
a trust, is this true. I sure hope so. Is there
anything I can do. Tammy in California
 


ALawyer

Senior Member
A good lawyer would have to read the trust to see what it says. BUT if your brother now lacks mental capacity, a court can always remove him as trustee.

As yo what he does with HIS share of the money as beneficiary, that's a matter dpenedent on the terms of the trust, but if he had the money or property outright, he could give it away IF he was of sound mind at the time.

If he wrecked his sole property, that would be his loss. If it was someone else's property, even in part, then it seems to me that he is liable to the other owner to repair it.
 

Dandy Don

Senior Member
Putting all three names as trustee was an innocent mistake--only one person should be in charge. If you wanted to be fair to your brother and sister, all you needed to do was giv them something from those trusts (without changing the name).

Your question was not specific enough--you don't say what you want to change about the trust.

You need to talk to a trust attorney about how to change what you want changed, and not many trust attorneys read this message board.

If all you want to change is the name, go to the same attorney you went to before and change the name back to only one trustee.

You need to get a second opinion (from another trust attorney), becaue what they meant when they told you "it can't be changed" was the specific instructions or language of the trust can't be changed, NOT who owns it. As trustee, you are the owner of the trusts and have the power to make whatever changes you want.

Your brother's drug use/mental incapacitation IS valid grounds for having him removed as trustee.

It may not even be necessary to have the name changed on your parents trust to your name--what you want to make sure of is that you (and only you) are named as sole trustee of their trusts so you have the power of control in making decisions.

Only a trust attorney can advise you on what you should do.

DANDY DON
 

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