• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

Lawsuit Over Trust In Missouri

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

confusedok

Junior Member
Hi all,

Newb here. I'm in a big mess, and trying to gather information. I apologize in advance if this is too much detail, but I have no way of knowing what is important, and what is not.

I'm involved in a lawsuit over my mother's trust in Missouri. I live in another state. I've been completely estranged from everyone in my family for over 20 years.

My parents established a trust in the early 90s, naming my three siblings and me as equal beneficiaries.

In the late 90s, my father passed away. As per the terms of their trust, it split into two separate, equal trusts. The "A" trust was for my mother, and was under her trusteeship. The "B" trust was for my siblings and me, to be held in trust for us until my mother passed on, under the trusteeship of another relative. I didn't learn any of this until two years ago, a fact I believe will be germane later.

Shortly after my father passed, my mother had an attorney draw up her own trust, naming my siblings and me as equal beneficiaries, under my mother's trusteeship.

About 10 years ago, one of my siblings passed away. According to the terms of both my parents' joint trust, and my mother's trust, my niece, who was my sibling's only child, was elevated to the status of equal beneficiary in both trusts.

Approximately 5 years ago my mother named my niece as trustee of her trust.

I was unaware of any of this.

In November of 2012, I got a letter from a lawyer my siblings had hired telling me my mother had passed away that February, that my niece, the trustee of my mother's trust, had not fulfilled her obligations regarding the distribution of the trust, that my siblings suspected my niece had misappropriated a sizable amount of money from the trust, and that they were therefore suing her. The letter went on to explain that Missouri law required all "interested parties" in a case to be joined, either as a plaintiff, or as a defendant, and they were therefore naming me as a defendant, as well..

Now, I need to establish that there is hostility between my siblings and myself. I don't want to go into a bunch of drama here, but I think anyone being asked to offer advice needs to understand the lack of any kind of relationship between us. We don't speak, and that's not going to change.

As I said earlier, I live in another state. I consulted an attorney I knew here. He contacted the plaintiffs' attorney and the (other) defendant's attorney, and said he felt this could be resolved amicably. Over the next 11 months, or so, both the defendant's and especially the plaintiffs' attorney began acting in bad faith, and my attorney felt I should hire a local Missouri attorney, and take a more aggressive stance. I did so.

At first, the Missouri attorney I'd hired was very impressive. Calls and emails were returned very quickly, and he presented me with a detailed plan of action, listing things he said he would need to do "immediately" in order to protect my interests.

I signed an agreement with him, and sent him a 3,000 retainer. All communication from him stopped. Of the bullet-pointed list of "critically important" things he'd said needed to be done "at once", the only one he followed through on was his filing his appearance on my behalf with the court, and that took three weeks, despite the fact that his offices are right across the street from the courthouse.

Over the next 3 months, I became increasing concerned over his lack of action on my behalf, and began calling and emailing him. Towards the end, I was leaving 3-5 messages per week for him, and an equal number of emails. He literally didn't respond to a single one of them. Finally, I sent him an email, cc by certified letter, re-listing his original bullet-pointed action plan, and gave him a week to get them done. He took no action, and never even bothered to respond. I fired him, and had to threaten to file a complaint with the Office of The Chief Disciplinary Counsel of the state supreme court for inadequate communication and neglect of legal matters under the Missouri Rules of Professional Conduct to get my retainer back.

Since then, I've interviewed 11 attorneys. I've only found one I was impressed with, but when he sent the agreement over, the structure of his compensation wasn't what we'd discussed. I called him, and we discussed it at length. That time, I took copious notes so I could be sure I was not mistaken, and re-stated the terms we'd agreed upon several times during the conversation. Again, the agreement he sent over was not what we'd discussed. I moved on.

That brings me to my first question:

How do I find an attorney? I've looked on a number of sites that rate lawyers, have reviews, etc., but very few attorneys in this county in Missouri have more than one, or two ratings, or reviews. There was one guy who had 6 peer reviews, but a closer look revealed they were all from his partners, and they only gave him 3.5 stars out of 5. I didn't think that was a good sign. I ended up culling a list from those sites, and the listings on the county bar association page, but to me it feels just like pulling out the yellow pages, closing my eyes, jabbing my finger on the page, and calling the one it lands on. Hiring a lawyer to help me through this process is probably going to be the most momentous decision of my life; financially, if not emotionally and psychologically as well. I've pretty much failed utterly at it so far. I have to find a better way.

As I go through that process, I would like to increase my understanding of what I'm in the middle of. Here are my other questions:

Do I have standing in this case? By that, I mean are my siblings and my niece free to reach an agreement in this case without my approval? I would think they could, and the only way I could get some leverage in this would be to file a suit of my own, essentially mirroring the lawsuit my siblings filed against my niece. Is that correct?

Is the professional trustee required to be responsive to me? For example, if I want an accounting of trust assets, or copies of documents, do I need a court order to get them, or must the trustee provide them? Nearly two years ago, plaintiff's attorney petitioned the court to compel the defendant to provide bank statements, etc. The court ordered it done, giving defendant 30 days to produce them. To date, she has only partially complied. Now that the professional trustee is in control of the trust, can I get those documents from her?

What criminal charges might my niece face? Could she be trying to wait out statutes of limitations? From what I've been able to find out, criminal prosecutions are apparently pretty rare in cases like this, aren't they?

If she doesn't face criminal charges, what leverage do I have over her? I understand my siblings and I can sue her to recover misappropriated funds and assets, but isn't all that would lead to is a judgement? I'm pretty sure she couldn't just declare bankruptcy and discharge a judgement, but if she has no assets, all you could do is petition for wage garnishment, right?

Please understand, I'm not looking for ways to hurt my niece, despite what she has done. I'm about as sure as I could be that she's already taken significantly more than her share of the trust, but she has children, and a life ahead of her. I don't want to harm her, or saddle her with a judgement. What I would most like to do is find a way to compel her to come clean, renounce any claim on the remainder of the trust, and let us all move on. To achieve that, I need some kind of leverage.

How are non-cash investment assets disbursed? The single biggest trust asset is an investment account. Some of the investments are municipal bonds with maturity dates far into the future. How do you split those up?

Any answers to my questions / advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 


confusedok

Junior Member
For clarification ....

Both my parents' trust, and my mother's trust were revocable, until the time of their passing. At that point, they became irrevocable.

There was no will, or estate. At the moment of passing, all assets became property of the trust(s)
 

curb1

Senior Member
The municipal bonds are no problem. They can be sold at any time just like a stock. They have a value that goes up or down daily depending on the fluctuation of interest rates.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Good luck here.

Lawyers are bottom feeders. Handle it yourself. Got to the law library in your town. I've done it so can you.
Why do you think law libraries in the OP's town would help for a matter in an entirely different state?

And why do you feel the need to necropost?
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top