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Revocable Trust & Beneficiaries

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Tried2doRight

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? CA

My mother & father established a revocable living trust & placed their home in that trust in April 2001. My father subsequently died shortly after the trust was established. My Mother was beginning to show signs of Dementia but was never diagnosed until 2002. My sister & I were Beneficiaries of the trust. Anyways, we've recently come to find out that my mother sold the home after quitclaiming the house out of the trust with no notification to either my sister or I. How was the attorney/my mother able to do this without notification ? I thought when my father died the trust became irrevocable ?

Unfortunately, my sister & myself were estranged from my mother due to relatives stepping in & basically turning my mother against us. And add the dementia & she was ripe for the picking. We attempted conservatorship but the court denied our requests & even our request to get her checked out by a doctor were denied... made no sense...We were concerned but thought this is where she wanted to be. In March of this year, I just came to find out my Mother had passed away in Dec of 2004. Now, my sister & I have begun the task of trying to sort out what happened to her & the estate. After speaking to her doctors this past month, I've come to find out she was suffering from dementia, amongst other things. & we've been tracing the money that was spent from the proceeds of the house.

We've traced the money by a cousin who might or might not have had power of attorney over my Mother, but we do know that the estate was used to pay off a home for the cousin, purchase vehicles for cousin & son. Then the cousin also purchased a business & in Dec of 2004 purchased a new home after my Mother appointed her as "trustee" of the financial account from the sale of the home. It appears to us she was spending the money even before my Mother passed away, which probably put my Mother over the edge.

We're figuring we'll have to pursue, welfare fraud, gift taxes, elder fiduciary abuse & undue inflence etc but have heard things such as Les Pendence that we should pursue on my cousin's new home where she used the estate to purchase in cash. But we don't know if this means taking my Mother's estate to probate ? or what have you ? or if Les Pendence is available ? & then again the original question of how was the home removed from the trust ? I know there is a 3 year statue of limitations ? but there was (in my mind) a lot of fraud going on. Was the sale of the house in the trust valid ?
 


S

seniorjudge

Guest
Tried2doRight said:
What is the name of your state? CA

My mother & father established a revocable living trust & placed their home in that trust in April 2001. My father subsequently died shortly after the trust was established. My Mother was beginning to show signs of Dementia but was never diagnosed until 2002. My sister & I were Beneficiaries of the trust. Anyways, we've recently come to find out that my mother sold the home after quitclaiming the house out of the trust with no notification to either my sister or I. How was the attorney/my mother able to do this without notification ? I thought when my father died the trust became irrevocable ?

Unfortunately, my sister & myself were estranged from my mother due to relatives stepping in & basically turning my mother against us. And add the dementia & she was ripe for the picking. We attempted conservatorship but the court denied our requests & even our request to get her checked out by a doctor were denied... made no sense...We were concerned but thought this is where she wanted to be. In March of this year, I just came to find out my Mother had passed away in Dec of 2004. Now, my sister & I have begun the task of trying to sort out what happened to her & the estate. After speaking to her doctors this past month, I've come to find out she was suffering from dementia, amongst other things. & we've been tracing the money that was spent from the proceeds of the house.

We've traced the money by a cousin who might or might not have had power of attorney over my Mother, but we do know that the estate was used to pay off a home for the cousin, purchase vehicles for cousin & son. Then the cousin also purchased a business & in Dec of 2004 purchased a new home after my Mother appointed her as "trustee" of the financial account from the sale of the home. It appears to us she was spending the money even before my Mother passed away, which probably put my Mother over the edge.

We're figuring we'll have to pursue, welfare fraud, gift taxes, elder fiduciary abuse & undue inflence etc but have heard things such as Les Pendence that we should pursue on my cousin's new home where she used the estate to purchase in cash. But we don't know if this means taking my Mother's estate to probate ? or what have you ? or if Les Pendence is available ? & then again the original question of how was the home removed from the trust ? I know there is a 3 year statue of limitations ? but there was (in my mind) a lot of fraud going on. Was the sale of the house in the trust valid ?

Q: How was the attorney/my mother able to do this without notification ?

A: It was your ma's to do with as she pleased.


Q: I thought when my father died the trust became irrevocable ?

A: Why did you think that? What did the trust say?
 

Tried2doRight

Junior Member
seniorjudge said:
Q: How was the attorney/my mother able to do this without notification ?

A: It was your ma's to do with as she pleased.


Q: I thought when my father died the trust became irrevocable ?

A: Why did you think that? What did the trust say?
Power of Revocation. As long as both trustors live, either trustor may revoke the Living trust. No beneficiary need be given notice. After the death of a spouse, the surviving spouse can amend his or her continuing revocable living trust, Trust 2.
Contents of Trust 1: Trust 1 shall contain all of the property of the trust owned by the deceseased spouse at that time it was transferred to the trust, EXCEPT trust property left by the terms of this trust to the surviving spouse. Trust one becomse irrevocable at the death of the deceased spouse. The trustee shall distrbiute Trust one to the beneficaires named by the deceased spouse in Art 1... etc
Contents of Trust 2: Trust 2 shall contain all of the property of the trust owned by the surviving spouse at the time it was transferred to the trust...

It's over my head...
 
S

seniorjudge

Guest
After the death of a spouse, the surviving spouse can amend his or her continuing revocable living trust, Trust 2.

This means that the trust of the surviving spouse is still revocable.
 

Tried2doRight

Junior Member
seniorjudge said:
After the death of a spouse, the surviving spouse can amend his or her continuing revocable living trust, Trust 2.

This means that the trust of the surviving spouse is still revocable.
That's what we thought but we don't know if she ever amended it as we were never notified (don't know if we're suppose to be..) & Trust 1 was never setup...It seems like she failed to what she was suppose to as trustee. We know the cousin got to be a representative trustee on the monies from the sale of the house, our Moms checking account, dad's retirement, Mom's SSI & have been investigating her spending on new homes, businesses, etc even prior to Mom's death. We've asked for her to account for her spending but we doubt very seriously she'll reply & are trying to figure out what our next step is... from what we understand she needs to be investigated, but don't know if the best approach would be Elder Abuse charges or sending my Mom's estate to probate & how we can force her to account for what she's been up to.
 
S

seniorjudge

Guest
Tried2doRight said:
That's what we thought but we don't know if she ever amended it as we were never notified (don't know if we're suppose to be..) & Trust 1 was never setup...It seems like she failed to what she was suppose to as trustee. We know the cousin got to be a representative trustee on the monies from the sale of the house, our Moms checking account, dad's retirement, Mom's SSI & have been investigating her spending on new homes, businesses, etc even prior to Mom's death. We've asked for her to account for her spending but we doubt very seriously she'll reply & are trying to figure out what our next step is... from what we understand she needs to be investigated, but don't know if the best approach would be Elder Abuse charges or sending my Mom's estate to probate & how we can force her to account for what she's been up to.
Time to hire a lawyer.
 

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