Sad_Beneficiary
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? CA and OH
Hello and thank you in advance for taking the time to read this. My father died approx. 2 years ago. There are 2 beneficiaries, myself and brother and we currently reside in Ohio, but the current trustee (court appointed) resides in California where the probate court proceeding took place. In these 2 years we have received no updates, reports or anything on my father's estate. Here is the context:
The current trustee is my uncle and claimed (at the time my father died) that all the assets belonged to him as a result of "loaning" my father some money, though no records were ever kept, making this a "gift"? Ignoring his claim, I hired an (bad/novice) attorney to remove the first named trustee (stepmother, separated) and then my brother and I (as the only 2 beneficiaries) appointed myself as trustee. We moved soon after to Ohio for personal matters and not a week later my uncle hired an attorney who (through probate) was able to appoint my uncle as trustee due to a supposed (still not investigated at this time) mistake my lawyer made (my lawyer refunded my money). Neither my brother nor I flew to California to object, as it was not financially feasible.
We are still not in a financial position to spend months in courts IN California, nor hire an attorney. We feel that my uncle is breaching the trust left and right (self-dealing, conflicting duties, etc.) and believe that now is a good time to try and regain control over our father's estate. We also believe that since my uncle has furnished no statement of assets, financial accounting or one single update that this falls into the "duty of disclosure" category of breach of trust.
Is there any way, without incurring tons of fees that we (as beneficiaries) have a right to demand a new trustee? True, all our beliefs are based on verbal communications, thus hearsay, but surely there is a breach or violation in here somewhere that can be petitioned, even if the "disclosure" argument does not hold. This raises a second point. I moderately understand surcharges and such, but we feel my uncle will use trust money to hire a lawyer to fight this and draw it out, thus incurring more costs at our expense and to that of the trust. Again, we (as beneficiaries) cannot afford to travel much, nor do we have trusted people in California to grant power of attorney. The estimated worth of the estate at the time of death was $300,000 in escrow (house closed escrow AFTER time of death, which seemed surprising) and about $150,000 more in real estate and assets. A lot of people seemed to have messed this one up for us, no?
This is a real Catch 22 as we do not have the money to fight for the money. I am willing to spend the summer (I am a university student) in California at my own expense hoping to resolve this issue and reimburse expense after completion.
Is there a chance his sly lawyer could deny the beneficiaries a mutual request of removal?
What am I up against? I may not be a lawyer, but I can surely represent myself and my brother in a court if needs be. Is there a way to freeze the trust for the time being until this is resolved so he cannot utilize trust finances to fight us? (Maybe bringing to light Self-dealing?)
Maybe a passive approach of placing a Lien on property?
What I see as the best option now are to file for immediate removal of the current trustee under some probate code and appoint a new one. What I see as the second best option is to petition for disclosure of the documents relating to finances of the trust, then hopefully "catching" my uncle having breached the trust once or more over the last 2 years. (I read somewhere that the statute of limitations for a dispute claim is 3 years?)
I understand I am asking a ton here. Maybe the solution is simple or I am making it too complex. Either way, I need advice please.
Thank you ever so much, as a Communication major, sites like these portray the true concept of realizing justice through rhetoric and exchange!
-Sad
Hello and thank you in advance for taking the time to read this. My father died approx. 2 years ago. There are 2 beneficiaries, myself and brother and we currently reside in Ohio, but the current trustee (court appointed) resides in California where the probate court proceeding took place. In these 2 years we have received no updates, reports or anything on my father's estate. Here is the context:
The current trustee is my uncle and claimed (at the time my father died) that all the assets belonged to him as a result of "loaning" my father some money, though no records were ever kept, making this a "gift"? Ignoring his claim, I hired an (bad/novice) attorney to remove the first named trustee (stepmother, separated) and then my brother and I (as the only 2 beneficiaries) appointed myself as trustee. We moved soon after to Ohio for personal matters and not a week later my uncle hired an attorney who (through probate) was able to appoint my uncle as trustee due to a supposed (still not investigated at this time) mistake my lawyer made (my lawyer refunded my money). Neither my brother nor I flew to California to object, as it was not financially feasible.
We are still not in a financial position to spend months in courts IN California, nor hire an attorney. We feel that my uncle is breaching the trust left and right (self-dealing, conflicting duties, etc.) and believe that now is a good time to try and regain control over our father's estate. We also believe that since my uncle has furnished no statement of assets, financial accounting or one single update that this falls into the "duty of disclosure" category of breach of trust.
Is there any way, without incurring tons of fees that we (as beneficiaries) have a right to demand a new trustee? True, all our beliefs are based on verbal communications, thus hearsay, but surely there is a breach or violation in here somewhere that can be petitioned, even if the "disclosure" argument does not hold. This raises a second point. I moderately understand surcharges and such, but we feel my uncle will use trust money to hire a lawyer to fight this and draw it out, thus incurring more costs at our expense and to that of the trust. Again, we (as beneficiaries) cannot afford to travel much, nor do we have trusted people in California to grant power of attorney. The estimated worth of the estate at the time of death was $300,000 in escrow (house closed escrow AFTER time of death, which seemed surprising) and about $150,000 more in real estate and assets. A lot of people seemed to have messed this one up for us, no?
This is a real Catch 22 as we do not have the money to fight for the money. I am willing to spend the summer (I am a university student) in California at my own expense hoping to resolve this issue and reimburse expense after completion.
Is there a chance his sly lawyer could deny the beneficiaries a mutual request of removal?
What am I up against? I may not be a lawyer, but I can surely represent myself and my brother in a court if needs be. Is there a way to freeze the trust for the time being until this is resolved so he cannot utilize trust finances to fight us? (Maybe bringing to light Self-dealing?)
Maybe a passive approach of placing a Lien on property?
What I see as the best option now are to file for immediate removal of the current trustee under some probate code and appoint a new one. What I see as the second best option is to petition for disclosure of the documents relating to finances of the trust, then hopefully "catching" my uncle having breached the trust once or more over the last 2 years. (I read somewhere that the statute of limitations for a dispute claim is 3 years?)
I understand I am asking a ton here. Maybe the solution is simple or I am making it too complex. Either way, I need advice please.
Thank you ever so much, as a Communication major, sites like these portray the true concept of realizing justice through rhetoric and exchange!
-Sad