please help: mom won't allow child to access money left by dad

What is the name of your state? az

dad died when she was 9 now she's 21 and mom won't allow her to access her money; but likes to deduct everything herself for the 21 year old. how can 21 year old get the money she was left by her dad?

You need to know the terms of the Trust.
Perhaps the mother is entitled to all the income, preserving the principal, until the daughter is 25, or 35, or achieves some level of scholastic success.
Until you have that information your question cannot be answered.

ok, but how does she go about accessing the information in the Trust? It would appear that mom is trying to exclude her from any knowledge of what it actually contains. And the lawyer was retained by mom. is there some case examples that i could use to file on her behalf so she can access the info? thanks

Are you even sure the daughter was named as a beneficiary in her father's will?
I do not understand when you say"mother likes to deduct everything for herself". Has daughter even requested information from the lawyer?
If daughter believes money is being withheld that is legally hers then she should consult her own attorney. This is necessary if the inheritance was in a Trust. If it went through probate then it is public information obtainable at the courthouse where the will was filed.

according to the daughter, she is in the will and entitled to some money, like 250k. Additionally, mom likes to deduct money from daughter's portion for daughter's needs, but won't allow daughter to actually get her hands on the money. The lawyer won't give the daughter info for whatever reason...maybe cuz mom retained him/her. i will check with public records. thx

Talk to a local trust attorney to find out whether in Arizona a trust beneficiary has the right to request a copy of the trust and the trust accounting information by sending a certified letter to the executor. There may be a clue in the file about who the trustee is and how much the trust might be worth, but the actual trust document is probably not in the probate file since the distribution of the trust is a private, separate matter from the probating of the will.

There might be a stipulation in the trust that the money is not to be distributed in total to the young lady because it could be disastrous to have a 21-year-old come into that much money all at once since the temptation would be to spend it recklessly, and that is why it was probably set up for her to receive monthly or periodic payments. If there is no stipulation then it is possible she might be able to get access to a larger share if she has a good reason (for wanting to go to college, get married or buy a house) but you would first need to review the trust to see what the language is.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])