Confused about Irrevocable Trust and Will

[mattschick]

Hello,
My father passed away late last year and he left a Irrevocable Trust dated 2009 and a Will dated 2013. In the Irrevocable Trust he states that the trust is allocated into three sub shares which are his 3 children. He also appointed my sister "donor" or trustee of the trust. My sister received a check from an account that was from the Irrevocable Trust and she opened up an account at her bank and put it in the siblings names. The Will dated 2013 says that it overrides the Trust. I am very confused by the "lingo" in the documents. I wanted to know if I could have someone read them both and answer a few of my questions?

 

[FlyingRon]

First, you should keep everything in one thread: https://forum.freeadvice.com/threads/question-about-a-will.651272/

Second, we don't provide that sort of legal service here. You'll need to contact an attorney. What I can say about the few new tidbits here is that it appears your father appears to have lacked proper legal knowledge when he set things up. While you can designate successor trustees, you can't designate donors (which is another name for grantor).

 

[Dandy Don]

You need the assistance of a Massachusetts probate and trust attorney for guidance. Attorney will review both documents to examine which assets are involved and how they have been titled and whether if there are designated beneficiaries on some assets which could determine that those beneficiaries receive the assets without a trust or a will being involved. It is possible that what is in the trust may override what is written in the will. Was the will ever probated in court or was it never probated at all?

Confusing, indeed. It seems as if the did not have the assistnance of a trust attorney when he drafted the trust, and he truly should have consulted one for advice about the trust and the will.

 

[Taxing Matters]

Hello,
The Will dated 2013 says that it overrides the Trust. I am very confused by the "lingo" in the documents. I wanted to know if I could have someone read them both and answer a few of my questions?

Your father apparently did not understand how things work. The will cannot "override" the trust. The will has no effect on those assets that were placed in the trust and since the trust was irrevocable the will could not revoke the trust to get the assets out of the trust either. It would be important to read both documents to see exactly how the various assets are distributed and you probably should have an attorney in the state where your father was domiciled at his death review them and tell you how it will play out.

 

[TrustUser]

you will also want to verify what assets (if any) were actually titled to the trust. the trust only controls those assets which it owns.

the making of the trust does nothing, until an asset is placed into it (which means a re-titling of that asset)