who oversees the trustee of an estate?

What is the name of your state? What is the name of your state? california

My husband is part of a trust that was suppose to have been turned over to him when he turned 25 and he turns 27 in a few months and still nothing has been handed over to him........the trustee of the estate has been stalling doing it and has not been doing his job.....last time accountings of the estate were done was 1997......we have been on him for almost 2 years now to get it done......we tried calling the estate lawyer to find out what is going on because we felt he would be the one over seeing the trustee but he has done nothing either........further more he seems not to know anything and keeps telling us different things.......the trust was part of a will left by his mother.....in the will it states that the trustee of the estate has soul control over it and can't invest money and sell property as he sees fit but the lawyer keeps saying he can't do that....that everthing has to go through the court to get permission.....and the lawyer himself has been sitting on his butt doing nothing.....final accountants were handed in 6 months ago and just last month when everything was suppose to go through the lawyer sent the paperwork back to the trustee saying it was done wrong.....6 months after it was handed in......we were wondering exactly who's job it is to see that the trustee of the estate does his job properly?...and is there any kind of action we can take?

It's a shame when trustees don't act responsibly in carrying out their duties. If what your husband says is true about the fact that he was supposed to have the proceeds of the trust given to him when he turned 25 (and IF that is what the trust specifically instructs), then the trustee may be guilty of breach of duty by not informing the beneficiary.

If your husband has not already seen a copy of the original trust documents, then he has the right by California law to request a copy of the original trust documents and accounting/financial statements by sending a certified letter to the trustee. He should also be informed in the letter that if no response is received within 2-3 weeks, that he will be initiating legal action for breach of duty.

There is almost no valid reason that the trustee could have for not responding. Let's hope he hasn't stolen any monies. Sometimes when people handle large amounts of money they get greedy.

If your husband can afford to, he should probably hire a trust attorney to write the letter on his behalf, which would carry much more professional weight/authority than if your husband wrote the letter himself, and the trustee would be much more likely to respond to a letter that has an attorney's letterhead.

The estate lawyer only handles estate affairs, and the trust is considered a separate matter different from the estate (although it is understandable that you thought the estate and the trust might handle similar matters), so the estate lawyer would not be aware of the specifics of the trust, so it does you no good to ask him about it.

So your step now should be to find a trust attorney who will draft the letter for you. Hopefully the trustee will get off his duff and start doing what he is supposed to be doing--issuing a check to your husband or at least begin a discussion with him about the details of the trust. Good luck in getting answers--you have every right to know what is going on!

DANDY DON ([email protected])