Bank account amounts

[Texas 65]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oklahoma

First let me Thank you for taking the time to answer my question.

I am the beneficiary to a irrevocable trust. In the trust document it shows 5 separate bank accounts with account numbers. I have no idea what is in any of them. How can I make sure the trustee will distribute the funds fairly if I don't know what is in them? How can I make sure the trustee isn't using the funds for his personal use?
If I have the names of the financial institutions and account numbers can i inquire about the balance at the time when funds were withdrawn and accounts closed?
Will an accounting be made available at the close of the trust or should I ask for one?
This is my first rodeo so I'm lost.


The trustee is a trust lawyer.
Thanks for any and all responses

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oklahoma

First let me Thank you for taking the time to answer my question.

I am the beneficiary to a irrevocable trust. In the trust document it shows 5 separate bank accounts with account numbers. I have no idea what is in any of them. How can I make sure the trustee will distribute the funds fairly if I don't know what is in them? How can I make sure the trustee isn't using the funds for his personal use?
If I have the names of the financial institutions and account numbers can i inquire about the balance at the time when funds were withdrawn and accounts closed?
Will an accounting be made available at the close of the trust or should I ask for one?
This is my first rodeo so I'm lost.


The trustee is a trust lawyer.
Thanks for any and all responses

The trustee/trust lawyer is going to be paid for their services out of the trust...so some money is going to go to the trustee/trust lawyer. Other than that, the odds of an attorney doing anything nefarious is very slim.

 

[Zigner]

Ask the attorney for an accounting...

 

[Dandy Don]

If the death of the trustor occurred in the recent past, you need to allow the trustee 3-4 months to manage the affairs of the trust. You will be sent an accounting at the appropriate time.

If you do make a request, your request should be made in writing and not just be a verbal request.

You have no legal standing to request information from the banks, and they will tell you that they are allowed to give out information only to the trustee.

 

[curb]

You need to be proactive (soon) about this with the attorney. From my first hand experience (my uncle's trust) an attorney can get an "open checkbook" for handling a trust. My uncle set up a revocable then irrevocable trust to make his estate an easy situation when he died. An attorney was the trustee. His (the trust's) assets were very simple (no real estate only bank accounts) on purpose when he got older. The attorney milked the assets for a bill of $28,500 to distribute the bank accounts "because he was the trustee". The beneficiaries were all out of state so it became a difficult situation for them to pursue and the attorney knew that.