An aunt of mine passed away 2-26-07 and left me an inheritance of 20% of a trust she had set up. On 2-11-08, I signed a disclaimer, thereby giving my inheritance to my 31 year old daughter.
The trustees of the trust in which I have a 20% interest are 2 cousins of mine (a pair of sisters) who have continually taken excessive fees for themselves, paid special gifts to members of their own family, used accounting tricks to favor themselves, etc.
I know this, because I used to be one of the trustees and was actually dismissed because I objected to such behavior. That is, my aunt was senile for many years before she died and had set up this trust many years ago to have 3 of her nieces (my 2 cousins & myself) handle it should she become incompetent. One of my cousins, however, had more recently manipulated this senile elderly lady into signing an amendment to the trust, written by this cousin's attorney, making her (the cousin) the head trustee with rights to dismiss any of the other trustes for any reason. This cousin also insisted that a member of her own family, who was also her own private attorney & the same one who wrote that amendment, be the attorney for the trust. Supposedly, this trust attorney was representing all 3 trustees. When I could not get my cousins to stop taking excessive fees & doing other questionable stuff, and when the trust attorney not only didn't back me up but actually wrote an inflammatory letter against me, and when my cousins refused to hire a more independent attorney, I hired a trust attorney myself to pressure them to reduce their fees & correct some other questionable things. This was when the amendment was used to dismiss me as a trustee. I could not afford to keep up the battle (Chicago trust attorneys are extremely expensive), so I didn't fight it. I really didn't want the liability any longer anyway, and I did want unfettered access to my aunt whose remaining time was very limited.
Anyway, my cousins are now trying to close my aunt's estate, and my share (now my daughter's shrae) would be a little over $300,000. However, in the estate accounting (prepared by that same non-independent attorney) there were several irregularities, so my daughter and I decided not to sign until these & some earlier irregularities were fixed. Needless to say, we're under a lot of pressure from my cousins, and my daughter has even had angry messages left on her answering machine.
Some of the stuff I would like them to fix (excess fees, special gift to a boyfriend, etc.) goes back to late 2002. I didn't find out about these things until the summer of 2003 as I had quite a battle in getting my cousins to disclose financial information. As trustee I brought these things up shortly after I found out about them, but was outnumbered 2 to 1 on the trustee vote as far as getting them fixed. I didn't get my beneficiary rights until my aunt passed away on 2-26-07, and my daughter didn't get her beneficiary rights until I signed the disclaimer on 2-11-08. So what is the statue of limitations on getting some of this old stuff fixed, and from what date does it start? My aunt lived in Cook County, Illinois, at the time of her death, so I believe that's the jurisdiction we're dealing with.
Thank you for your help.
Mommer
The trustees of the trust in which I have a 20% interest are 2 cousins of mine (a pair of sisters) who have continually taken excessive fees for themselves, paid special gifts to members of their own family, used accounting tricks to favor themselves, etc.
I know this, because I used to be one of the trustees and was actually dismissed because I objected to such behavior. That is, my aunt was senile for many years before she died and had set up this trust many years ago to have 3 of her nieces (my 2 cousins & myself) handle it should she become incompetent. One of my cousins, however, had more recently manipulated this senile elderly lady into signing an amendment to the trust, written by this cousin's attorney, making her (the cousin) the head trustee with rights to dismiss any of the other trustes for any reason. This cousin also insisted that a member of her own family, who was also her own private attorney & the same one who wrote that amendment, be the attorney for the trust. Supposedly, this trust attorney was representing all 3 trustees. When I could not get my cousins to stop taking excessive fees & doing other questionable stuff, and when the trust attorney not only didn't back me up but actually wrote an inflammatory letter against me, and when my cousins refused to hire a more independent attorney, I hired a trust attorney myself to pressure them to reduce their fees & correct some other questionable things. This was when the amendment was used to dismiss me as a trustee. I could not afford to keep up the battle (Chicago trust attorneys are extremely expensive), so I didn't fight it. I really didn't want the liability any longer anyway, and I did want unfettered access to my aunt whose remaining time was very limited.
Anyway, my cousins are now trying to close my aunt's estate, and my share (now my daughter's shrae) would be a little over $300,000. However, in the estate accounting (prepared by that same non-independent attorney) there were several irregularities, so my daughter and I decided not to sign until these & some earlier irregularities were fixed. Needless to say, we're under a lot of pressure from my cousins, and my daughter has even had angry messages left on her answering machine.
Some of the stuff I would like them to fix (excess fees, special gift to a boyfriend, etc.) goes back to late 2002. I didn't find out about these things until the summer of 2003 as I had quite a battle in getting my cousins to disclose financial information. As trustee I brought these things up shortly after I found out about them, but was outnumbered 2 to 1 on the trustee vote as far as getting them fixed. I didn't get my beneficiary rights until my aunt passed away on 2-26-07, and my daughter didn't get her beneficiary rights until I signed the disclaimer on 2-11-08. So what is the statue of limitations on getting some of this old stuff fixed, and from what date does it start? My aunt lived in Cook County, Illinois, at the time of her death, so I believe that's the jurisdiction we're dealing with.
Thank you for your help.
Mommer
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