Trust Survivorship Question

Hawaii

Trust formed under California law.

Quote: Upon the death of the Settlor, Timothy XXXXXXX, the Trustee, after making payments provided in Article Five, shall retain One-Hundred percent (100%) of the Trust Estate in trust for the benefit of John XXXXXXX, father of the Settlor and Virginia XXXXXXX, mother of the Settlor or the survivor of them.

1. My parents are divorced, but my revocable living trust will be set up to provide for them with 100% of the trust assets after my death. Does "or the survivor of them" mean their new husband or wife, or does it mean my mom & dad's other children? Should I remove the term "or the survivor of them" if I ONLY want trust assets to pass to my parents, and not to their new spouses?

THANK YOU in advance!!

Maitai

Once your "Trust assets" pass to your parents, you will no longer control the assets. Their will/trust will determine where "your" assets end up.

You can write more specific descriptive language, which dictates how you want their 'share' of your assets to be distributed if either (or both) pre-decease you.

"survivor of them" means the one remaining of the two that are still alive. It has nothing to do with the spouses. It just means if mom dies, dad gets ALL the money. Presumably you have wording in the trust to dispose of it if both parents are dead.

If the assets are distributed to the parents, then you curb1 is right, there's nothing you can do to control what they do after that. However, the trust may irrovocably control the distributions after Maitai's death.

Maitai, you should make these questions to the lawyer who drafted the trust (and who has the hole thing sitting before him to read and tell you what the various scenarios would be).

The trust language says the trustee retains the assets when the Settlor dies. For how long? What happens to the assets while the Settlor's parents are alive? What distributions can the trustee make?

tecate,
With the limited information we have, you asked, "What happens to the assets while the Settlor's parents are alive?" The assets would most likely be distributed to the mother and father.

Then you asked, " What distributions can the trustee make?" The assets in the trust should be distributed in the manner instructed in the trust.

Thanks Guys -

This answers my question. The other items brought up have been defined and explained in the trust wording.

V/r

Maitai