Successor Trustee Refuses Transfer of Property

[ghimsea]

What is the name of your state? Florida

Here is our situation... The Successor Trustee is one of the six Beneficiaries listed in a Trust. The Trust refers to a piece of property in the state of Maine and it clearly states that the sole responsibilty of the Successor Trustee is to transfer this property to the Beneficiaries absolutely and thereby terminate the Trust. The orignial Trustee passed away one year ago but the Successor Trustee will not transfer the property to the Beneficiaries. The Successor Trustee has attempted to convince the Beneficiaries to agree to sell the property directly from the Trust, without transferring, but not all of them are willing to do that. What steps should the Beneficiaries take to have the right and title of this property transferred from the Trust into their names? Is there a way to compel the Successor Trustee to transfer the property? Do we file a form ourselves (if yes, then where?) or do we need to involve a lawyer?

Thank you for your help!

 

[Dandy Don]

Does the trust give a stated time period on when or how much time for the successor trustee to get the title transferred to the beneficiaries names?

Why does the successor trustee want to sell the property and does he want to buy it himself or sell it to any interested party? What is the successor trustee's motivation for wanting to sell, and is he related to the other trust beneficiaries or just an unrelated trustee and does the trustee have any legal background as an attorney or not?

Have a trust attorney to review the trust and get a professional opinion about how to proceed. I think that you (perhaps with the co-signatures of the other beneficiaries who don't want to sell) should send the trustee a letter to politely ask the trustee to do as the trust instructs and accomplish the name change to make it official and then give him a certain amount of time to accomplish it (perhaps a few weeks or months). Then if it is not done (and also if he does not terminate the trust), then threaten to have him sued for breach of fiduciary duty and replaced with someone else who will act more responsibly, but you need to talk over the specifics with a trust attorney to find out in advance and plan what your strategy should be.

It's hard to know what the trustee's thinking is--maybe he thinks that he will lose control if the property is not in the name of the trust anymore, but that is not his business--he needs to do what the trust instructs so that the beneficiaries can decide what they want to do and so that THEY can make the decision at the appropriate time as to whether THEY want to sell or not.

 

[ghimsea]

More Information Regarding Situation...

Yes, the Trustee is related to the beneficiaries.

The Trustee doesn't want to own the property, he wants it sold so that he can have his portion in cash. From the beginning this person has tried to manipulate the other Beneficiaries to get what he wants with no respect for what the others want. He has no background what so ever in law.

We know that if all the Beneficiaries agreed to sell the property from the Trust then it could be done but that is not the case. Therefore it is suppossed to be transferred and they all become tenants in common. Then each individual is responsible to find a buyer for their portion of the property if they don't want to own it.

There is no time frame written into the Trust as to when it is to be transferred except that it states, "upon the death of the Trustee, the Successor Trustee is hereby directed to forthwith transfer said property and all right, title and interest in and to said property unto the Beneficiaries absolutely and thereby terminate this Trust."

There has been verbal communication to the Trustee by a Beneficiary regarding having him transfer but he refuses and threatens court action if everyone does not agree to sell from the Trust. The Trust language seems clear about what the Trustee is suppossed to do so we're not sure how a court would take his side on the matter.

 

[Dandy Don]

What is the property worth if it was sold and is it likely that you all could find a buyer?

The bottom line is that he is supposed to get the transfer done no matter what, so the court would side with the beneficiaries if it went to trial. He is being greedy and has no right to hold the property in hostage just because he wants money.

 

[ghimsea]

The property is waterfront so it wouldn't be difficult to find a buyer. It would be a challenge for one of the beneficiaries to sell their portion and that is probably why the Successor Trustee is eager to sell it whole from the Trust instead of transferring it to the Beneficiaries. But is that fair that the ones who want to keep the property have to give it up to make it easier for the Successor Trustee / Beneficiary to get his cash? We don't think so.

Do you think it matters how many of the Beneficiaries want it transferred versus those that want it sold from the Trust? It's our understanding that even if one of the Beneficiaries wanted it transferred that it should be done. The Successor Trustee is trying to gather as many of the Beneficiaries he can to agree with him and he's worn some of them down to where they don't want to fight. Plus, they also have no background in law and believe most of his deceptive comments.

Thank you for you supportive posts!

 

[curb1]

This is too easy! The beneficiaries who want the property buy the share of property from those who want the cash. Not difficult.