Thank YOU for providing further details which more accurately explain the situation.
Do you mean to say that the estate attorney is also the official executor of the estate named by the will? If I were you, I would NOT let the executor or the estate attorney know about the incoming money (hold on to it as a negotiating tool for more bargaining power on your side), since you were wrongly and deceitfully cheated out of your money, as you suspected!! Approximately what date (month and year) did you turn the money over?
An irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT) is used to hold a life policy outside of an estate in order to avoid income and estate taxes. Because the trust is a separate entity from the insured's estate, the life insurance is not a part of the net worth and therefore NOT subject to income tax. Therefore, the proper use of an ILIT will enable the heirs to receive the death benefit insurance policy monies FREE AND CLEAR of ESTATE AND INCOME TAXES. So, obviously if this estate attorney told you that your trust had to go to the trust of the estate to pay for taxes, then THIS WAS AN OUTRIGHT AND DELIBERATE LIE intended to put more money into their pockets in fees charged or from the trust. Any attorney knows that insurance monies are kept outside of probate. What was the name of the trust that had your money in it, and what was the name of the other trust with your father's name on it? (Send me that info in an e-mail to my e-mail address below, please.) It also looks like your stepmother might have been in conspiracy with the estate attorney if she didn't inform you that you were a beneficiary--this is also possibly a breach of her duty as a trustee, because legally she is supposed to notify you and give you a copy of the trust (DO YOU HAVE A COPY OF THE TRUST?).
Any CERTIFIED financial planner or CERTIFIED estate planner will give you supportive, backup opinions about how and ILIT is supposed to be handled, and I strongly suggest you start interviewing a few local trust attorneys so they can advise you on how to proceed to get your money back (don't tell them the name of the estate attorney who took advantage of you until you are assured that you can speak confidentially and find out whether they have had any business dealings with this man in the past). You also need to find out by looking at the estate documents whether this man was required to post an executor's bond or a trustee's bond (if he did, then it might be possible to get your money back by filing a claim with the bond insurance company). Maybe your trust attorney even has contacts with these types of planners and can do the research for you.
However, it does look as if you might need to get your own trust attorney to file a lawsuit against this man for breach of executor duty or breach of trustee duty or incompetence or fraud or any other charges that might apply. I believe the evidence will be strongly in your favor and that you have a 90% chance of winning your case, and after you get your check, please send me a cut for my superb advice!! It will be very easy for your attorney and your financial planner/estate planner to provide evidence and principles of law that what he suggested you to do is never done according to common-sense, reasonable principles. This unscrupulous attorney might even settle out of court when confronted with the threat of a lawsuit.
Good luck and congratulations for being strong enough to fight for what is rightfully yours!!
DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA (
[email protected])