Petition for emergency suspension

[mohaabtsh40]

ok the hearing is march 30th and NOW the petitioning sister sends me a text asking me to accept the neutral trustee and we wont have to have the hearing. Shouldn't this be considered something like blackmail? Can the petitioner make an offer to settle that is like accept my way or else, like that?

We begged her to not go this road, we offered to buy her out...but when we asked her what she wanted out of this she said she wanted us to cease communications with her, so we did. Now there are multiple attacks on the will and trust and i'm sure she has lost her claim but i don't know how to enforce that.

 

[anteater]

Shouldn't this be considered something like blackmail?

No.

Can the petitioner make an offer to settle that is like accept my way or else, like that?

Of course she can.

Now there are multiple attacks on the will and trust and i'm sure she has lost her claim but i don't know how to enforce that.

Since you are "sure," I assume that you can reference Colorado case law on the issue. Yes? No?


Everything may work out the way you wish. But I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that you and your other sister are going to get smoked unless you guyz break down and retain an attorney.

 

[LdiJ]

the way i see it she wanted a neutral trustee, so she fabricated stories to claim an emergency order was needed.
She repeatedly said she was doing this because we need a neutral trustee. (but we didn't) I think she is in contempt for using an emergency order when no real emergency existed. the fact that the trust appoints the three of us as co-trustees but she alone felt that needed to be changed is what i think may be the thing she is contesting?? The will also says something about doing everything possible to stay out of court, which by doing this only 17 days after my mom passed cannot possibly be any effort at all to stay out of court however im not sure if the will is considered to be a provision or part of the trust document. She also claimed the a safe deposit box and its contents solely belong to her, which i think items in the box are in the trust, and that confuses me too, because the box was her and moms name but mom passed but has this trust that says all her accounts become part of the trust. the bank says otherwise.

An account that passes directly to someone, as a joint account would (or a joint safety deposit box) was no longer mom's the minute mom died, so it could not become part of the trust. So she is right about the safety deposit box and its contents being solely hers.

 

[mohaabtsh40]

This case is going to set new laws for colorado courts.
while the "no contest" clause or (how you spell) 'in terroruim', clause has not been ever before in case law while it is part of a trust, rather than a will. In this case there was no probable cause to contest the appointment of co-trustees, no evidence of any kind was presented to support the suspicions outlined as the cause to remove co-trustees which in a will would still be reason to enforce the no contest clause, this, however was in the trust and will be the first case where a ruling on this matter, in a trust, exists.

This week the judge should be making a ruling. The hearings have concluded and we wait for the answer.
As it turned out there are articles in the Denver Post about the scandals that one of the attorneys have been involved in. (not mine).
Wish me luck...

 

[anteater]

Did you eventually retain an attorney?

 

[mohaabtsh40]

yes my sister and i filed a response petition with a lawyer and a petition to enforce the no contest clause.
the first hearing went perfectly in our favor the second continuation hearing a little bumpy but still well.

We totally stumped them a few times where they stood silently with only "uuhhh" as an answer it was kind of funny. I attended by phone.

 

[mohaabtsh40]

Well, the lawyer my sister and i had refused to present evidence that we wanted presented, also refused to state things we asked to be stated therefore the judge made inaccurate findings and we lost. I understand an appeal would have to be based on a matter of law rather than to present more evidence so we have no relief. The estate will be worth nothing by the time we get to split things up. The sister in NY also got away with taking items that are named in the trust to go to me, from colorado, to NY from one of the boxes, which we had asked to see the contract to verify it was in fact in her name. Cause the bank gave different stories about that. So she literally stole items that are named in the trust to go to me... And got away with it because my lawyer refused to present evidence that i asked be presented... THIS IS some buuuuuuuullll...

Can we still sue that sister? For legal costs even though this judge didnt really say anything about that?

 

[anteater]

Why isn't the trust paying your attorney fees?

 

[mohaabtsh40]

it will be now, it will be paying for both sides... We thought that the one who brought this to court so quickly without any effort to follow the instructions in the will and trust should be liable since there was no real probable cause to do so, but somehow, without all of the evidence on our side being presented in this case mere suspicion, based on half twisted truth, passed as reason enough. (bu***it, ahem).

By the time the trust pays hers, ours and the neutral trustee, and now mediation (judge ordered), then when my sister still wont work with us then back to the neutral trustee/public administrator, the remainder will be jack squat.

exactly what my folks did not want to happen to their lifetime of savings and planning. So it says in the documents they left. avoid at all costs,... yet here we are.

 

[RRevak]

it will be now, it will be paying for both sides... We thought that the one who brought this to court so quickly without any effort to follow the instructions in the will and trust should be liable since there was no real probable cause to do so, but somehow, without all of the evidence on our side being presented in this case mere suspicion, based on half twisted truth, passed as reason enough. (bu***it, ahem).

By the time the trust pays hers, ours and the neutral trustee, and now mediation (judge ordered), then when my sister still wont work with us then back to the neutral trustee/public administrator, the remainder will be jack squat.

exactly what my folks did not want to happen to their lifetime of savings and planning. So it says in the documents they left. avoid at all costs,... yet here we are.

What was the reason your attorney gave for not wanting to present what you felt was evidence? Often (we see it a lot on here) a client will feel they have sufficient evidence for their side during an ongoing case only to find after an attorney review that their 'evidence" was never actually evidence at all for varying reasons.

 

[mohaabtsh40]

well there were allot of emails and texts sent between us siblings, the other side picked and chose only the pieces of conversations that were bad for us, and did not include the entire conversation as it occurred, which made the truth basically reconstructed into something else. We felt if that was to be used then the entire conversation should be admitted to show all of what actually happened. Where the one sister said things like "this trust sucks, i choose not to administer it with the two of you." also she admitted in those messages that she was aware at the time of filing that many of her accusations were not true. Also even tho there was a trust there was also a will, in which a dozen more items were attacked for example giving reasonable amount of time to dispose of any real or personal propery, and go to the maximum extent possible to avoid probate or court interference. and so on...

Oh the reason my lawyer said was that admitting those will only prove that we were not getting along which was their primary arguement for asking for a neutral trustee. But we were not getting along only AFTER the petition was filed.

 

[mohaabtsh40]

I am confused as to what to do when the judge says that either my good sister or I testified to something which was never said. One example The judge says that my sister testified that she was fired from a job and filed a lawsuit for wrongful termination, which NEVER was said. The false allegation the bad sister claimed was that my good sister had been charged with embezzlement and fraud. But my good sisters testimony was that she was once accused by an employee of stealing, she left the job on her own, and settled out of court for having obtained an attorney who was going to file, (not actually filed), a suit for slander. So the judges error led to the decision that my bad sister was close enough to the truth, (if the misquoted testimony was correct) that it gave the probable cause to contest the trusts appointment of co-trustee. (Nothing to do with my involvement in this example) but everything that the ruling was based on, was from such incorrect, misquoted, so called facts. IF I HAD THE TRANSCRIPT, there would be nothing found that the judge said one of us said... The bad sister intentionally mislead the court from the partial retelling of truth, to maliciously attack my good sister for the sole purpose of having a neutral trustee handle the trust rather than what the trust says to do, AND the judge believed this crap despite our testimony which was practically opposite or completely absent of what the judge said it was.

There must be a way to remedy the false ideals that led to the results here???

While we did not lose entirely, and i do not understand this either. We are ordered to administer the trust according to the trust through mediation. That would include the majority clause. So if my good sister and I did intend to "screw" the other one over, this ruling does nothing really to help. IN FACT if we are to do what we were supposed to do anyway, would that not show that there really was no probable cause in the first place?
Also the bad sister has admitted in testimony that she asked to be removed as cotrustee, she asked for a public administrator, yet after that she knowingly took items that belong to the trust, knowing they belong to the trust , home to NY WITH HER FROM COLORADO, SHE ALSO HAS THREATENED us (sry caps lock there) to take funds from the trust, but yet without asking to be reinstated she remains on as co-trustee?? I AM NOT GETTING ANY RESPONSE FROM MY LAWYER AT ALL. sry again caps lock...

Oh yea we barely had a couple hundred grand...there really isnt going to be but a meal or two left at the end now, is there

 

[mohaabtsh40]

I do not know if i should continue in this thread or start a new one, but i have an update and need more advice.
We ended up comming to a buy out in mediation after all the long court sessions. We paid the "bad" sister off. Too much.
I was totally wronged in this because the agreement in writing that i was asked to sign was not exactly what i agreed to in the mediation, (by phone).
I asked my lawyer to clarify some of the terms in the written agreement and also to include terms the written agreement did not mention. I didnt want to sign it the way it was so time passed and my lawyer refused to talk to me til i signed it, finally i did because i felt i had no choice. And when i did the lawyer said case closed she cannot help me any farther. the "Bad sister" has not returned some items according to the other sister. now...

Besides all that. the previously known as "good" sister has indeed been a problem as the originally "bad" sister had assumed would happem.
First off, when we were given back the trust she took all the money from the court appointed trustee, and opened a new trust in the family trust name but only put her name on the account. (Is that self dealing conversion?), then she needed amoney supposedly the reason she had not moved from the house, so i agreed to recieve a dispursement of equal amount, a few times, so she could get on with it. We were planning to paint the inside which she did but i asked for invoice never got it. then she was going to get realtors there to see what they would list it at and so we can get it on the market. This was september.

In mid october i was like we need this on market by nov 1st she SAID she understood and mentioned she wanted to wait til after jan to see what the tax assessment was and i told her tax assessment and market value are two different things so lets do this now she said she understood. Nov came she still had not had a realtor come, remember im in california, she is in the house in colorado. she said the same thing that she wants to wait for the tax assessment, i told her that the assessment is every other year not every year and there is not one this year. Now...

Today Jan 6th, she finally has realtor come and she guided the realtor to tell me the values will be higher in March. OMG They will be even higher 5 years from now but that doesnt mean i want to wait 5 years... Sister is claiming its best for the trust im saying she canno squat there and wait for market conditions to change...

Also she took possession of all personal property even the stuff will'd to go to me and has not given me one bit of information regarding Moms accounts, or anything at all other than a few dispursments that i only originally agreed to for her to move.

(Oh and ive asked her to provide me with a statement of all the activity from when she opened the account and she has not done that . its been since sept 2015

but the kicker is there is not enough left for another legal battle... i dont think...SO what do i do?

 

[mohaabtsh40]

sister still has not moved or given me any information about the account or sent any items to me. i have asked for months for several things like a list of what she has from the boxes and what is missing from the other sister. My cotrustee has possession of all the assets, lives in the house drives the car, and she has threatened to charge the trust for things she claims is work on the trust and she has repeated that threat many times. I told her charge the trust then you can pay a years rent too. but she is really just avoiding moving. she was supposed to have moved by now. anyway what can i do, we already spent more than is left on fighting off the other sister...what do i do now?