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Health, Education or Welfare - Trust Help!

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Damon4Lindsay

Guest
What is the name of your state? New York
My mother passed 2 years ago and the will states that her estate be put into a trust until I and my twin sister reach the age of 30. My father and her divorced shortly before her death and the bulk of the estate money was (I believe) her portion of his 401K. The will states it shall be left untouched except for any expenses the trustee authorizes for "health, education or welfare". My Uncle, the Trustee will not authorize any fund release for either of our college expenses. We were told that these types of things would likely be covered. What do you feel the "legal definition" of health, education or welfare" would be? In addition, as I understand the law, he is required to provde regular financial statements, which to this day he has provided none. He is not a blood relative and there is much speculation among those involved that he is not conducting his responsibility and that we may lose our inheritance. We have 6 years until we turn 30 and feel somewhat helpless. Can we take a more acive role? Any help is greatly appreciated.
Damon
 


Dandy Don

Senior Member
So sorry that you have to deal with a greedy, irresponsible relative who is supposed to have your best interests at heart.

You really do need to consult with a local attorney who specializes in trusts to figure out what your strategy should be.

If you have not already seen a copy of the original trust, I believe that you have the right as a beneficiary to request a copy of the trust and an accounting statement for any recent years by simply sending the trustee a certified letter requesting that information. If I were you, I would ask your trust attorney to write that letter in your behalf, using his/her letterhead stationery, which would make it much more official-looking and your uncle would take it more seriously and respond to it if he sees that you are represented by an attorney, whereas he might ignore it completely if you just wrote him a plain letter yourself.

Yes, a college education would qualify as a valid legal expense. Have you all been able to get any monies out of this trust for any reason at all or have your requests always been rejected?

If he has not been responding to your reasonable requests, then this could possibly constitute a breach of duty or he could be accused of not acting in accordance with the terms of the trust. It is possible that he could be replaced by someone else (perhaps the secondary trustee who was already preselected by your mother, or perhaps by a professional trust department employee of the bank where the trust account is being held) who would be more responsive to your requests.

However, you must be very careful not to make allegations against this trustee until you can prove specifically what he has done wrong. The trust has very specific instructions about how he can be replaced and what can happen if he is incompetent, so you really do need to get your hands on an original copy of the trust so that your trust attorney can review it. It might be a little bit difficult to remove him, but it certainly would not be impossible if you have enough evidence that he is not acting properly.

What sometimes happens is that trustees get an exaggerated sense of power after handling someone else's finances, and seeing how much the financial position has improved, and they sometimes think the money is theirs and they try to selfishly find ways to exert control over other people wrongly--but the money is not HIS, it's YOURS--and he has forgotten that and might also be jealous that it belongs to you.

I feel you have a strong case and that things are going to work out in your favor! Stand up for your rights!

DANDY DON ([email protected])
 

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