How do you find if you have a trust fund?

[busch07]

What is the name of your state? Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana.

Hi everyone. We have an interesting situation. Years ago, my girlfriend's father mentioned to her mother that he had set up a trust fund for her. Later, he passed away and no mention of the trust fund occurred. My girlfriend's mother has no info about the trust fund other than that it possibly exists. We have my girlfriend's father's SS# as well as (obviously) hers. Is there any way to find out if he did setup a trust fund for her? For the record we live in IL (although she lived in Michigan most of her life) and her father lived in IN at the time of his death.

Thanks in advance!

 

[curb1]

Call the banks where he banked. Who was his attorney, call him/her. Were her mother and father married?

 

[Texas Pooh]

Get the file from the courthouse where his will was probated. While a trust and trust assets would not be involved in the probate process, often there are references to trust in the documents. In addition, those documents will tell you the name of the lawyer who handled the will - there is a good chance s/he handled the trust, too.

 

[Dandy Don]

What year did the man die?

What your girlfriend was told may or may not be true--she must be realistic enough to realize that he may have been just saying something to impress her mother or it is also possible that the trustee may have stolen the funds. It is normal procedure for a trustee to contact the trust beneficiary soon after the death to get the beneficiary's SSN for tax purposes and to notify the beneficiary about the trust, so the fact that this was not done in this case is most suspicious. But I hope for her sake that it is true that she was left some monies. Most glaring is the fact that the father didn't give the mother specifics about who was handling the trust.

First step is to check at the county courthouse probate court in Indiana to see if a will was left. If so, order a copy of every page in the file so you can see how the estate was handled and if there is even any mention of a trust. Executor probably also served as trustee.

If there was no estate probated, your next step is to order a copy of the man's state income tax return and federal income tax return for the last year he was alive and the year before that. Go to the Indiana state tax website and federal tax website to see exactly who qualifies to order copies of past year tax returns--sometimes it is only the executor, sometimes it is only the spouse or other family member. If a trust return was filed there would be evidence there, under the man's SSN, of who handled the trust and how much it was worth.

Also visit the website naupa.org to look at unclaimed property websites for Indiana and Michigan to see if her name or her father's name shows up with any unclaimed funds, although there is only a small chance of there being anything there.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])