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Wills And Trust Funds

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Kellik0251

Junior Member
My grandfather set a will in place that when he were to pass away that our house was to be sold and the profits were to go into a trust fund for myself and my 2 brothers. The will stated that the money could not be used until the youngest was 25 yrs old, the youngest would be me. (20 yrs old) or unless we went to school to be used to support our school expenses while we attended (including tuition, books, housing, food, ext. I am currently the only one of the 3 of us that is going to school so my lawyer was sending me a stipend amount of money to pay for my housing costs. Recently he told me that he would not be able to send me any more money because the economy was bad and the interest rates were low. Is this legal? If the money is to be used for school and i am in school can he deny me whats rightfully mine? And would there be any way that my brothers and I could be able to get the money now instead of waiting until I am 25 because we are all about to be homeless and my grandfather would not want us to struggle if the money was there and he had no way of knowing that the economy would be this bad right now or he would not have put that stipulation in his will. Please let me know what I can legally do?? Thank You =)What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
 


anteater

Senior Member
Sorry, but nobody who has not seen the stipulations and the discretion given to the trustee is going to be able to give you advice. Your best course is to ask an attorney experienced in probate/trusts to review the documents to see if you have any recourse.
 

Kellik0251

Junior Member
Wills and Trust Funds

The stipulations would be that we would have to be in school and or be 25 to use the money.. is it legal for him to not let me use the money even though i am in school just because the interest rates are low?
 

Kiawah

Senior Member
Do you have a copy of the actual language of the trust?

Does it allow sale of the assets for distribution (liquidation), or just the income off of the assets to be distributed ?
 
My grandfather set a will in place that when he were to pass away that our house was to be sold and the profits were to go into a trust fund for myself and my 2 brothers. The will stated that the money could not be used until the youngest was 25 yrs old, the youngest would be me. (20 yrs old) or unless we went to school to be used to support our school expenses while we attended (including tuition, books, housing, food, ext. I am currently the only one of the 3 of us that is going to school so my lawyer was sending me a stipend amount of money to pay for my housing costs. Recently he told me that he would not be able to send me any more money because the economy was bad and the interest rates were low. Is this legal? If the money is to be used for school and i am in school can he deny me whats rightfully mine? And would there be any way that my brothers and I could be able to get the money now instead of waiting until I am 25 because we are all about to be homeless and my grandfather would not want us to struggle if the money was there and he had no way of knowing that the economy would be this bad right now or he would not have put that stipulation in his will. Please let me know what I can legally do?? Thank You =)What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
So you're saying that your grandfather owned a house...and he wanted that house to be sold and all of the money from the sale be put into a trust for you and your 2 brothers...has the house been sold?..or is the house being rented and THAT money being put into the trust that you have been getting from the lawyer? If the house was sold and the money was put into the trust and that is the money you had been receiving..it's 2 different situations. If the house is being rented..maybe the lawyer was referring to the cost of managing the property has become especially high due to the economy and the trust cannot afford to give you any money right now...that would be a valid reason. However, if the house was sold and the trust just has cash money in it..I don't see any reason why you wouldn't still be allowed to draw money from it for your education as that is a stipulation of the trust...but like another poster said..there could be provisions in the trust agreement that is preventing any money being paid out to you for whichever reason...

as for you and your brothers just wanting "the money" now...if the trust specifies that you all reach a certain age before receiving it..that's pretty iron clad...I suppose you could contest it for your reasons...but I don't know anything about that process so I won't begin to try to give some advice about it.

The best thing for you to do is talk to a lawyer OTHER than the one you have...show him/her the trust agreement and explain the situation..then he/she will definitively be able to tell you your options.

P.S. you didn't mention what state's law the trust is following...that is really important as different states have different laws pertaining to your situation
 

Kellik0251

Junior Member
Trust/Wills

The state is in CT.
the house has already been sold so the money is in there. I understand that the lawyer must have received a cut when the house initially sold but that still should have left about 80-90k. It also states in the will that there is an executor, my uncle stan. What can he legally do as such? Would he be able to make decisions that overruled the lawyer? The will states the money can be used for health, education and support of said grandchildren. Would my uncle be able to tell the lawyer what to do with the money, such as splitting it up for our support now? Please let me know thank you for your help.
 

Dandy Don

Senior Member
You need to be talking to your own Connecticut trust attorney to get advice on what your rights are as a beneficiary. Some states allow beneficiaries to ask for a copy of the trust and an accounting statement for each year the trust has existed, by sending the trustee a letter asking for such. It's unclear from the posting whether the money was put into a trust or not but it seems like your uncle should have set up a trust fund.

It seems like Stan may be telling the attorney that the fund doesn't have enough money so that you will quit asking, but that seems a bit shady; the reasons he gave do not make sense. So what if interest rates are low--there is still an accumulated amount of money in the fund. You need to have your attorney read the language of the will to see exactly how much you are entitled to and how/when you are entitled to request funds.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])
 
The state is in CT.
the house has already been sold so the money is in there. I understand that the lawyer must have received a cut when the house initially sold but that still should have left about 80-90k. It also states in the will that there is an executor, my uncle stan. What can he legally do as such? Would he be able to make decisions that overruled the lawyer? The will states the money can be used for health, education and support of said grandchildren. Would my uncle be able to tell the lawyer what to do with the money, such as splitting it up for our support now? Please let me know thank you for your help.
I don't understand why the money isn't being paid for your education then. If you know for sure that the trust specifies that money can be used to pay for your educational expenses...there is no reason you shouldn't be able to still get that money despite the state of the economy...the lawyer shouldn't be the one making any decisions about paying out for your education if your Uncle Stan is the executor. Uncle Stan needs to tell you why he either told the lawyer not to continue paying you or needs to tell the lawyer to pay you if he doesn't know the situation.

Good Luck
 

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