What is the name of your state? New York
I have a New York trust and I reside in California.
My mother died and in her Will she left everything to her two children; her son who was 17 and daughter (me) who was 12 at the time of her death. My brother received half the principal at 30 and the rest of the principal at age 36 and I was to receive all or a portion of the interest from the trust when I turned 21 and from then on, none of the principal. Most of the property was liquidated shortly after my mother’s death which included in part, our home in Armonk. Our building in Manhattan was sold later for $1 million. City blocks were being bought out by Citibank, and in the early 70s Citibank Center was built there.
The lawyer who wrote the Will was my mother’s advisor, and later committed my mother against her will to a mental hospital where my mother died. The lawyer, I’ll call her GC, became my guardian and is the trustee of the estate to this day. My mother died in 1966. GC retired last year. Over the years I have asked GC to let me invest a portion of the money in a home, real estate etc. and her answer was always “no.”
Last year, out of the blue, she said she wanted to turn the estate over to me. Then GC said she went to surrogates court and they said no. Now she wants to have my brother be the trustee. 3/28/05 she wrote “I retained an attorney to handle the motion in surrogates court and am preparing an accounting for the years in which you did not receive an accounting.” The last accounting I received was in 1991 (other than schedule K1s which tell just interest amts.) GC sent me accounting for about 5 years out of the 40. From the 1991 accounting I know that the amount of principal in the trust has declined over 40 years. My brother says I should sue GC for not keeping up with inflation. What should I do?
I have a New York trust and I reside in California.
My mother died and in her Will she left everything to her two children; her son who was 17 and daughter (me) who was 12 at the time of her death. My brother received half the principal at 30 and the rest of the principal at age 36 and I was to receive all or a portion of the interest from the trust when I turned 21 and from then on, none of the principal. Most of the property was liquidated shortly after my mother’s death which included in part, our home in Armonk. Our building in Manhattan was sold later for $1 million. City blocks were being bought out by Citibank, and in the early 70s Citibank Center was built there.
The lawyer who wrote the Will was my mother’s advisor, and later committed my mother against her will to a mental hospital where my mother died. The lawyer, I’ll call her GC, became my guardian and is the trustee of the estate to this day. My mother died in 1966. GC retired last year. Over the years I have asked GC to let me invest a portion of the money in a home, real estate etc. and her answer was always “no.”
Last year, out of the blue, she said she wanted to turn the estate over to me. Then GC said she went to surrogates court and they said no. Now she wants to have my brother be the trustee. 3/28/05 she wrote “I retained an attorney to handle the motion in surrogates court and am preparing an accounting for the years in which you did not receive an accounting.” The last accounting I received was in 1991 (other than schedule K1s which tell just interest amts.) GC sent me accounting for about 5 years out of the 40. From the 1991 accounting I know that the amount of principal in the trust has declined over 40 years. My brother says I should sue GC for not keeping up with inflation. What should I do?
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