trustquestion
Junior Member
State: Oklahoma
I need help! My dad passed away and left money in a testamentary trust to 3 grandchildren, all under the age of 4. Two of the children are mine, the other is my brothers. He appointed his 3rd wife who he had only been married to for 2 years as the trustee. He did this because my brother and I used to not get along, and he felt we would fight over how to run the trust. It's now 5 years later, and my dads wife has remarried. After he died, we received an account statement showing she had deposited the money into 3 separate bank accounts, but little information since. Each child is supposed to have approx $132,000 in there trust, and I assumed they would at least get some sort of interest payment on the principal. So far they have received nothing. I asked her what she was doing with the money, and she said she put it into CD's getting 3% interest. We asked her to seek the advice of a financial adviser to better manage this money, but she refused. We asked her to let us handle the investment with her having control on access to the money but she refused again. We then asked to see bank statements or any paperwork showing the current balance since there has been 5 years of interest. She refused again. In fact, shes now unwilling to show me or my brother anything relating to this money. I'm very concerned that this money may be being spent, but giving her the benefit of the doubt, I'm concerned about how the funds are being mismanaged. Our children won't receive any of this money until they are 25 according to her, and the will. (I think)
Here is how the will reads exactly, word for word, concerning the money and trust.
Provided, that in the event that any heirs are under 25 at the time of my death, I direct that property devised and bequeathed to such beneficiary shall be distributed to xx(3rd wife)xx, to be held in common trust for the use and benefit of each beneficiary under the age of 25 years. In the event of refusual...blah blah blah, some one even worse becomes the trustee, That's it, the whole will and trust part. There's parts that listed there names, the amount of money and where it comes from, but this little passage is everything concerning a trust. There is no paper work, no other legal documents, nothing. In fact, the lawyer just handed over a $398,000 check to her, and never followed up on what she did with it as far as I know.
So, 1st Question....from reading this, do you think it would be possible for my children to request funds, because the will says FOR THE USE AND BENEFIT of the beneficiary. That statement seems pretty vague to me, and I wonder if we requested money for our kids use, if she would have to turn a percentage over? I'd like to have a financial planner or adviser help manage this money, or at least help us get better returns than 3% interest. Can she say no to a request that vague? and if she did, how likely would a judge side with her? Is a trustee's word absolute law?
2nd question.....If we have to take the trustee to court, because we feel the money is being mismanaged, can she use the kids money in the trust to pay for legal fees fighting us?
3rd question.... Of course we would like to have input as parents as to how this money is being managed, but if necessary can the judge force her to seek financial help with the management, or can we request that her and the back up trustee be removed, and a court appointed trustee be put in place? My brother and I agree that we'd have no problem letting the trust pay a small fee to a professional company to properly invest and manage the kids money.
Thanks!
I need help! My dad passed away and left money in a testamentary trust to 3 grandchildren, all under the age of 4. Two of the children are mine, the other is my brothers. He appointed his 3rd wife who he had only been married to for 2 years as the trustee. He did this because my brother and I used to not get along, and he felt we would fight over how to run the trust. It's now 5 years later, and my dads wife has remarried. After he died, we received an account statement showing she had deposited the money into 3 separate bank accounts, but little information since. Each child is supposed to have approx $132,000 in there trust, and I assumed they would at least get some sort of interest payment on the principal. So far they have received nothing. I asked her what she was doing with the money, and she said she put it into CD's getting 3% interest. We asked her to seek the advice of a financial adviser to better manage this money, but she refused. We asked her to let us handle the investment with her having control on access to the money but she refused again. We then asked to see bank statements or any paperwork showing the current balance since there has been 5 years of interest. She refused again. In fact, shes now unwilling to show me or my brother anything relating to this money. I'm very concerned that this money may be being spent, but giving her the benefit of the doubt, I'm concerned about how the funds are being mismanaged. Our children won't receive any of this money until they are 25 according to her, and the will. (I think)
Here is how the will reads exactly, word for word, concerning the money and trust.
Provided, that in the event that any heirs are under 25 at the time of my death, I direct that property devised and bequeathed to such beneficiary shall be distributed to xx(3rd wife)xx, to be held in common trust for the use and benefit of each beneficiary under the age of 25 years. In the event of refusual...blah blah blah, some one even worse becomes the trustee, That's it, the whole will and trust part. There's parts that listed there names, the amount of money and where it comes from, but this little passage is everything concerning a trust. There is no paper work, no other legal documents, nothing. In fact, the lawyer just handed over a $398,000 check to her, and never followed up on what she did with it as far as I know.
So, 1st Question....from reading this, do you think it would be possible for my children to request funds, because the will says FOR THE USE AND BENEFIT of the beneficiary. That statement seems pretty vague to me, and I wonder if we requested money for our kids use, if she would have to turn a percentage over? I'd like to have a financial planner or adviser help manage this money, or at least help us get better returns than 3% interest. Can she say no to a request that vague? and if she did, how likely would a judge side with her? Is a trustee's word absolute law?
2nd question.....If we have to take the trustee to court, because we feel the money is being mismanaged, can she use the kids money in the trust to pay for legal fees fighting us?
3rd question.... Of course we would like to have input as parents as to how this money is being managed, but if necessary can the judge force her to seek financial help with the management, or can we request that her and the back up trustee be removed, and a court appointed trustee be put in place? My brother and I agree that we'd have no problem letting the trust pay a small fee to a professional company to properly invest and manage the kids money.
Thanks!
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