Did my father screw his kids? Help

[Astinus]

I live in Chicago, IL

I will try to make this short.
I have known about our family living trust for years but have never seen a copy of it. Now after my grandmother’s death being a beneficiary I thought I would be contacted and have not. My father is very greedy and would screw my brothers out of anything if he could.

At my brother’s wedding in 2002 he asked us to sign a paper to change the land in the trust to benefit the family tax wise, 2 of us signed the paper 1 of us did not. My father has not spoken to my one brother in 6 years because of this, and I can’t get a copy of what I signed, I don’t know where to look. Now my father will not speak to me after asking about this trust. He said everything was his!

I need to know what I can do to find the living trust and what my options are if my father wrote us out of this trust.

I might want to add I found out my grandmother had made my father trustee because of her Alzheimer’s. I think he was made power of attorney of all of her assets.
Please help if you can.

Justin

[Dandy Don]

OF COURSE he screwed you, but you do have options.

What month and year did your grandmother die? Did she also leave a last will and testament or did she probably put all of her assets into the trust?

You will need to have a consultation with 2 different attorneys: one with a trust attorney (that is probably the most important one) and another with a family law attorney. Usually the first consultation is sometimes free or very inexpensive.

If there is documented evidence in your grandmother’s medical records that she had already been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or the beginning symptoms of it BEFORE she signed the trust, your trust attorney may be able to get the newly revised trust voided (the one that gives father everything) and might be able to get the previous trust reinstated. But you may not be able to get access to the medical records without filing a lawsuit against your dad. Your attorney will be able to help you determine whether you signed the land document under duress and what to do about that.

The same concept applies to the power of attorney—if there is an official diagnosis of Alzheimer’s given before she signed the power of attorney, your attorney may be able to get the POA revoked as invalid, and additionally, some states require that a POA provide an accounting for monies they withdraw, to prove that he spent the money on the person’s care and didn’t selfishly steal it for himself. So if he can’t or won’t provide an accounting, the family law attorney might be able to charge your father with abuse of POA, and the attorney can probably warn your father that he will face charges unless he returns any excess monies or stolen monies to the estate. Illinois DOES have laws against abuse of POA, and you will need to ask the family law attorney if there are penalties for anyone convicted of this.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA (tiekh@yahoo.com)

[Astinus]

I have found a few things.

we signed the papers in 2003 and she died in 2006.

In 2003 the trust was changed into a "family limited partnership" and my brother that did not sign my dad started a trust in just his name. He knows nothing about this but I found the deeds for all the trusts in the county clerks office and nothing ever went into probate.

I have talked to a family attorney and I have to find proof that I was on the trust my grandmother had in place before my father changed it.

I just now am stuck I have contacted all the attorneys that worked on anything of my grandmothers and am waiting for a reply from them.

Please if anyone knows how I can get a copy of what we signed or how to attain the trust my grandmother had in place I would be in your debt.

[curb1]

Have you checked to see if it was recorded at county courthouse? Some trusts are recorded, and some aren't.

[Dandy Don]

Please don't make the mistake of trying to contact previous attorneys who may know about the trust to ask if they will provide a copy. Don't you realize that father may have instructed them to destroy it or not release it to you? You need to be discussing with a trust attorney WHO HAS EXPERIENCE IN TRUST LITIGATION to be contacting those other attorneys. This is not a do-it-yourself-project and attorney will have other possible ways to find out the information you want.