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Interference from Relatives

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milehightrustee

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Colorado

I am the Trustee of a Living Trust for a gentleman I have known my entire life. He was like a father to me. He is 86 years old now and living in an Assisted Living Facility. He was diagnosed with Alzheimers two years ago. His physical health is not good but he is maintaining. He is probably about to cross the line of needing to be put in a facility with more care. I am also his POA and the Agent on his AHCD. I have listed three other people whom I trust as Successor Trustees in case I can no longer act in that capacity.

The Trust is funded with money and real property. The property is worth about 1.5 million and the money is sufficient to take care of him the rest of his life. I have an accounting firm that manages the money portion for me. They invest it, and they also take in the income and pay the bills. This is my way of having an accounting of every penny earned and every penny spent.

This man has been single his entire life. He has one brother who has a wife and two children. The brothers have never gotten along since the death of their father in the mid sixties. These people are his only surviving family. The disposition of the Trust is only known by myself and the Trust Attorney. The Trustor no longer has a clue what his Trust entails. He had it all done 10 years ago. I believe the reason he put me in control of his estate was because he knows that I do not let people push me around and also because of his feelings of mistrust of his brother and family. I was originally the successor trustee for the first seven years but when he needed to go live in a care facility he resigned as his own Trustee and I took over at that time.

The family, is very difficult to deal with. They are very upset that I control the estate. They want control. At one time just before I had taken over the brother had attempted to use a third party to gain control of the brother and take his property. I put a stop to that and in the process I became an enemy of that family.

The family assumes they are getting nothing when the Trustor passes and they want the property so bad I believe they would stop at nothing to make that happen. The estate is divided among 5 people. Two of them are the brothers children. They do not know this and are not privileged to know this at this time. However, the two want everything and think they deserve it. My job is to carry out the terms of the Trust and do what is in the best interests of all the Beneficiaries which is what will be done. As long at the Trustor is alive he is the Beneficiary and all efforts are for his benefit.

The two children of the brother, under the brothers constant orders, have been going in to visit the Trustor in his room a number of times this past month. They never even went to see him or had any contact with him at Thanksgiving or Christmas. They have been drilling him about his Will of which he knows nothing now. He told me the other day that there was going to be an attorney coming in to see him so that he could sign a Will. I tried to put his mind at ease and tell him that he has already done that and he did not need to worry about it. They have been brutal with him over this issue.

My two questions are, is there a way to legally keep these two away from him? They have one agenda and it is not to just visit with their Uncle. If they were successful in having him sign another Will and Living Trust by obtaining an unscrupulous attorney or an attorney who just does not know that a current Will and Trust exist, would that constitute a "Contest" of this currrent Trust? There is a "no contest" clause in this trust that is worded very specific and the Trustee "myself" is authorized to defend this trust at the expense of the Trust Estate.

Bottom line, this family is without a doubt the greediest, controlling, absolutely disgusting group of people I have ever encountered in my life.

I am just posting this to get some ideas, some legal ideas on what I might be able to do to shut this family down and keep them from continually going in and upsetting this nice man who is totally innocent and defenseless against them.

Thank you.
 


curb1

Senior Member
1) You said, "He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's two years ago". Is this clearly documented? Is there any controversy whatsoever about this diagnosis?

2) Contact the attorney who handled the trust to run this scenario by him/her. Don't depend on your expertise to handle this. It would be appropriate to get legal advice on this particular situation to make sure it is handled properly. Don't wait.
 

milehightrustee

Junior Member
1) You said, "He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's two years ago". Is this clearly documented? Is there any controversy whatsoever about this diagnosis?

2) Contact the attorney who handled the trust to run this scenario by him/her. Don't depend on your expertise to handle this. It would be appropriate to get legal advice on this particular situation to make sure it is handled properly. Don't wait.
Yes, he has a diagnosis of Alzhiemers from a Neurologist (MD) and it is clearly documented in his medical records. I never depend upon "my" expertise :), that is why I have a very competent attorney that handles all the legal matters and an accountant that invests the funds and handles all the financial matters.

I would love to enforce the NO CONTEST clause of this Trust someday so if they do get him to sign a Will I think that should show what we need to enforce it. This Trust is very professionally written by an Attorney that has done nothing but this type of work the past 40 years.
 

curb1

Senior Member
My suggestion would be to place a visitors list with his facility. That list would not include "strangers". I would also make it perfectly clear (including documentation) for the brother and two children that the "gentleman" is no longer mentally competent to make any changes in the trust, or create a new trust.
 
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milehightrustee

Junior Member
My suggestion would be to place a visitors list with his facility. That list would not include "strangers". I would also make it perfectly clear (including documentation) for the brother and two children that the "gentleman" is no longer mentally competent to make any changes in the trust, or create a new trust.
Oh yes, I agree with you completely. I have talked with management of the facility about that very thing. They say they can ask someone to leave but they cannot legally force them to. I also have a call in to talk with the attorney about how to keep the family from constantly harassing him about signing a Will on their behalf.

Keep in mind the brother controls his grown kids, in their 40s, as if they were puppets. He pulls the strings with the threat of cutting them out of HIS Will. He is a multi millionaire himself but acts like a child. Seriously, I have never in my life known three people who are so consumed with greed, control, envy, and so dishonest. It is amazing the things they have attempted. They hate me with an absolute passion simply because I am in control of the estate. I have even been threatened by the brother with physical harm via a third party. I am not scared by the threats as I am fully capable of dealing with that sort of thing due to my prior career but it is so disappointing to see grown people acting so childish.
 

curb1

Senior Member
Just curious, who are the other three beneficiaries? Do they know the brother and the two boys? Do they know they are beneficiaries?
 

milehightrustee

Junior Member
Just curious, who are the other three beneficiaries? Do they know the brother and the two boys? Do they know they are beneficiaries?
No one who is a beneficiary of this Trust knows they are a beneficiary. That is information that will only become knowledge of them when they are notified within the sixty day period after the Trustor passes away.

It is kind of funny. The other three beneficiaries are the local Lions Club, the local Friends Church and the third one is the daughter of a gal that he almost married back in the mid sixties. At that time she was about 12 years old and the Trustor was going to marry her mother but due to family problems, (the brother again) he never married her. This family is a real piece of work. He always had a soft spot in his heart for his "almost" step daughter and she did not have a very happy childhood so I guess he felt he needed to do what he could for her. I felt it was such a kind thing to do. He is a very giving and honorable man, the opposite of his brother. I can't wait to tell her that she is a beneficiary of his Trust. Knowing her she will be embarrassed about it. She is a very good person and does a lot of volunteer work for charities and such. She works as an investigator for the county DA's Office.
 

curb1

Senior Member
You seem to have a pretty good handle on this. Enjoy the situation if you can. It certainly sounds interesting. Good luck.

Have you thought about how quickly you will be able to close the trust when the time comes? That might be important. The longer the trust remains open, possibly the more time for trouble by "brother". Will "real property" be liquidated, or passed in present form?
 

milehightrustee

Junior Member
You seem to have a pretty good handle on this. Enjoy the situation if you can. It certainly sounds interesting. Good luck.

Have you thought about how quickly you will be able to close the trust when the time comes? That might be important. The longer the trust remains open, possibly the more time for trouble by "brother". Will "real property" be liquidated, or passed in present form?
When the Trustor passes away it will be a very sad day for me. He was like a dad to me my whole life. When he does pass away I will settle this estate as fast as I can. I will sell the real property and distribute the funds. There is no possible way it could be passed equally and have any kind of harmonious relationship and I did explain that to the Trustor 3 years ago when he could still understand things. I am hoping the brothers 2 kids will contest this Trust as I am ready to enforce the NO CONTEST clause and they will lose their shares which will go to the other 3. I will honor the trust, but if I get the chance they do not deserve any of it. They are evil people.
 

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