does trust pay for lawyer's defense

[legal_un_ese]

What is the name of your state? Florida

-93 year old aunt passed away.
-54 year old attorney draws up trust documents and wills.
-attorney becomes very friendly with aunt and ends up with well over $130,000 as surviving beneficiary of 2 bank accounts OUTSIDE OF THE WILL.
-question#1 How can I get information from the bank as to when the attorney was named the beneficiary?
-question #2 If I go to the Florida BAR, AND OR go to court, does the attorney's legal expences come out of the trust? (which is essentially my money, as I am the residual beneficiary).

 

[Dandy Don]

Bank is not likely to give you any informatoin about when attorney was named beneficiary, as they will usually only release information to the executor or trustee.

 

[legal_un_ese]

Do I have to go to court to get the info from the bank?

Since I have "POSITION" in the will as remainder beneficiary, and the bank account that went to the attorney would be mine. Under what circumstances would a court compel the bank to tell me on what date the attorney was named beneficiary to the accounts?

(What do I need to prove, or accuse attorney of, or do in ANY legal way, within the court system, to somehow get this extremely vital information from the bank?)

The attorney is one of the two trustees of the revocable trust, would the other trustee be allowed to tell me the information without violating any rules or laws?

 

[Dandy Don]

You probably won't get the information from the bank until and unless you file a lawsuit against the attorney if you allege that he got this money illegally. There may not be a law against an attorney being a beneficiary, so you really do need to be consulting with a local probate or trust attorney about this.

Trustee could tell you the information if he/she was sympathetic to your situation/cause, but that would be a bit unlikely, since they would probably feel ethically bound to tell the attorney trustee about your inquiry.