POA used while trustee alive

gwammaof2 · Aug 30, 2005

What is the name of your state? California
While my mother was dying in the hospital 2 of my siblings, there are 4 of us and we are all Co-Trustees of my mother's Living Trust, managed to talk the bank into giving them my mother's estate funds without the other 2 Co-Trustees knowing anything about what was going on. We were told that my older brother was paying my mother's hospital bills so we figured this was his own money he was using and we would be reimbursing him. The same Co-Trustees who took my mother's money also lied to us about her condition. She had dementia, was a double amputee and was sedated. We had a real sad situation to deal with when we found out, they had us folled/we were fools. The bank made an error, since the POA definitely required all 4 to sign for transactions. How impossible will it be to get them, the Co-Trustees,

to cough up what they put in their pockets since they had a duty to the trust to try to avoid stealing from it?

BlondiePB · Aug 31, 2005

gwammaof2 said:
What is the name of your state? California
While my mother was dying in the hospital 2 of my siblings, there are 4 of us and we are all Co-Trustees of my mother's Living Trust, managed to talk the bank into giving them my mother's estate funds without the other 2 Co-Trustees knowing anything about what was going on. We were told that my older brother was paying my mother's hospital bills so we figured this was his own money he was using and we would be reimbursing him. The same Co-Trustees who took my mother's money also lied to us about her condition. She had dementia, was a double amputee and was sedated. We had a real sad situation to deal with when we found out, they had us folled/we were fools. The bank made an error, since the POA definitely required all 4 to sign for transactions. How impossible will it be to get them, the Co-Trustees, to cough up what they put in their pockets since they had a duty to the trust to try to avoid stealing from it?

You need a Trust Attorney to handle all the problems going on with your situation. This cannot be resolved here on the internet. BTW, the $1700 fee you mentioned in your other thread is not an unreasonable amount for the total amount of hours for the attorney.

gwammaof2 · Aug 31, 2005

POA Used while trustee alive

Thanks for responding. We have had the same attorney for over a year. We have expended over $10k and do not have so much as a family photo for our efforts. Our attorney did not choose to address the issue of embezzled estate funds. The other Co-Trustees will not compromise to get the trust settled. we are about to hire another attorney since ours does not arbitrate, litigate or get aggressive. $1700 ofr one letter saying the same thing several other letters have said - still seems high to me. She must have cut and paste, and she did not appreciate us questioning the amount, would not return our phone calls. We are not nasty, we maybe were too nice, she seems to be in control of our case, not us.

Dandy Don · Aug 31, 2005

Please don't question an attorney's fees when they are helping you recover monies. How much do you estimate was stolen/embezzled?

pojo2 · Aug 31, 2005

IF and it rarely is, everything is as you have said then you might have cause of action against the bank that ignored that 3 signatures were requirred on the trust. However, if the funds were used for her care ONLY then what's the big deal?

gwammaof2 · Aug 31, 2005

Thanks for the responses. While bills were paid for trustee while she was alive, there was $9-10k that was funneled to a Co-Trustee on SSI to use for her own purposes aside from the hospital bills etc. of the trustee. This same trustee on SSI lived in the house belonging to the estate and paid no rent, no utilities and spent the $9-10 during the last year on herself alone. The remainder of the bank account funds went to pay hospital bills and that is fine.
I am meaning no disrespect about the issue of a 2 page letter saying nothing new costong $1700.00. Is it disrespectful to question a legal bill as one might question any other bill? I do not understand? My attorney has been to busy to retirn phone calls to me, lost a check for over $6k, told me that an offer of $125k less than the house sold for a couple of months later was a good offer. She never knows the issues involved with the case, and has not been aggressive. The last time I needed to retain an attorney I was very pleased, we never had a problem. If you are an attorney answering this question, please do enlighten me, as I do not wish to appear offensive.

BlondiePB · Sep 1, 2005

gwammaof2 said:
Thanks for the responses. While bills were paid for trustee while she was alive, there was $9-10k that was funneled to a Co-Trustee on SSI to use for her own purposes aside from the hospital bills etc. of the trustee. This same trustee on SSI lived in the house belonging to the estate and paid no rent, no utilities and spent the $9-10 during the last year on herself alone. The remainder of the bank account funds went to pay hospital bills and that is fine.
I am meaning no disrespect about the issue of a 2 page letter saying nothing new costong $1700.00. Is it disrespectful to question a legal bill as one might question any other bill? I do not understand? My attorney has been to busy to retirn phone calls to me, lost a check for over $6k, told me that an offer of $125k less than the house sold for a couple of months later was a good offer. She never knows the issues involved with the case, and has not been aggressive. The last time I needed to retain an attorney I was very pleased, we never had a problem. If you are an attorney answering this question, please do enlighten me, as I do not wish to appear offensive.

In your other thread, you stated that you were billed $1700 for 5.6 hours of work by the attorney. This is not unreasonable. Yes, you can ask for an itemization; however, you have a much bigger fish to fry. You know you need a different attorney, so fire your current one and hire another one.

Since your squibbling embezzeled money and is on SSDI, other than criminal charges, she has no assests other than the trust money. If there is a way to dissolve the trust and distribute the funds, that may be the best way to resolve all this by having her share of the proceeds from the sale of the house reimburse the trust fund. So what if she has to pay back the state! That's her problem not yours.

gwammaof2 · Sep 1, 2005

I agree it is the squibbling's problems to pay back the taxpayer out of her share of the trust, believe me! She blocks the rest of us from getting our share of the legacy, she will not agree to any terms, compromises, anything. The sheriff is the first place we went to for help, we wanted to see them deal with her, but the sheriff is still trying to avoid doing so. She may get away with embezzling her dying mothers estate funds, and denying disbursal of the estate to those of us who worked our whole adult lives and really want to be rid of her. To put it bluntly, this Co-Trustee who is "trailer trash" will be the one who gets what she wants out of all of this. The living trust was arranged so that all 4 got an equal share, and because she did not inherit ALL she will not let the rest get any. How do you fight this? I agree the present attotrney needs to be history, if we can get him to call us and make the final cut, he is not good at returning calls. We are talking to possible attorneys to replace him, but would like advice about what we can do to get this ended sooner than a year from now. So, you think $1700 is not too much to answer a 2 page letter with another 2 page letter, both of them repeating the same things for months? btw, I know people tell lies all over the place, but I really am not a liar here, and I thank you for your advice.

BlondiePB · Sep 2, 2005

gwammaof2 said:
I agree it is the squibbling's problems to pay back the taxpayer out of her share of the trust, believe me! She blocks the rest of us from getting our share of the legacy, she will not agree to any terms, compromises, anything. The sheriff is the first place we went to for help, we wanted to see them deal with her, but the sheriff is still trying to avoid doing so. She may get away with embezzling her dying mothers estate funds, and denying disbursal of the estate to those of us who worked our whole adult lives and really want to be rid of her. To put it bluntly, this Co-Trustee who is "trailer trash" will be the one who gets what she wants out of all of this. The living trust was arranged so that all 4 got an equal share, and because she did not inherit ALL she will not let the rest get any. How do you fight this? I agree the present attotrney needs to be history, if we can get him to call us and make the final cut, he is not good at returning calls. We are talking to possible attorneys to replace him, but would like advice about what we can do to get this ended sooner than a year from now. So, you think $1700 is not too much to answer a 2 page letter with another 2 page letter, both of them repeating the same things for months? btw, I know people tell lies all over the place, but I really am not a liar here, and I thank you for your advice.

Please find an attorney that is well versed in trust litigation. Again, for 5.6 hours of work $1700 is reasonable.

Dandy Don · Sep 2, 2005

I agree that you were shafted for the fee you paid. However, this was due to the fact that the attorney might not have had a complete understanding of what you wanted to accomplish before you hired him. Now that he has shown his true colors and is not willing to work hard for you, you know you need to find someone else. Be sure to explain that you may need to file suit to prove the embezzlement so that the attorney will know your case is a little bit more involved.

Also you need to find out whether the trustee has posted a trustee's bond or whether the trust exempted that requirement. IF a bond was posted you may be able to recover your monies from the bond company and an attorney can tell you how to do that.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

BlondiePB · Sep 2, 2005

Dandy Don said:
I agree that you were shafted for the fee you paid. However, this was due to the fact that the attorney might not have had a complete understanding of what you wanted to accomplish before you hired him. Now that he has shown his true colors and is not willing to work hard for you, you know you need to find someone else. Be sure to explain that you may need to file suit to prove the embezzlement so that the attorney will know your case is a little bit more involved.

Also you need to find out whether the trustee has posted a trustee's bond or whether the trust exempted that requirement. IF a bond was posted you may be able to recover your monies from the bond company and an attorney can tell you how to do that.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

There are four trustees in this mess, Dandy Don. I do disagree about the cost of the attorney fees because the OP stated that the attorney did 5.6 hours of work. But, we can agree to disagree on that.

gwammaof2, the hourly fee paid to the guardian attorney I hired is $250.00 per hour. Your current attorney's fee is not out of line for 5.6 hours of work. You have a much bigger fish to fry than this.

POA used while trustee alive

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