Trust Question

[raf]

What is the name of your state?illinois

My uncle was power of attorney and trustee of a revocable living trust of his brother who passed away.
My uncle who passed had given me a handwritten note stating I had CD's coming to me. I called the bank and asked about the CDS and they told me how to go about getting them. I guess the bank also called my uncle(trustee) telling him someone called asking about CDS.
He called me up raging that he is the trustee and there are no CDS. Everything is in the trust now.
I said i have a handwritten dated note stating I have CDS coming to me. He said the note is not notarized and is probably faked by me. Its Crap and Throw it out.
If everything is in a trust including my CDS will that handwritten note hold up in court.
My deceased uncle called us Trustees of the CDS on his note and he signed and dated it. I have other documents with his writing so I can prove he wrote it.
I asked the trustee uncle if we have anything coming to us and he would not answer. He just snarled at me said he has accountants etc working on it.
he is furious I called the bank, but deceased uncle said i had CDS coming and thats all I wanted.
If deceased uncle did write down we are remembered in the trust, how would I even know if trustee will honor his request?
Trustee uncle is now turning his family against me. I feel so lost.
I dont want to call a lawyer just yet as to futher aggravate matters. All i wanted were my CDS that were promised to me by deceased uncle.
What do you suggest? Thank you so much for your help.

 

[Dandy Don]

You have already posted this situation previously, but this time I'm glad you updated what has happened since then.

Uncle is mad because he KNOWS you are close to discovering his fraud, otherwise there would be no reason to be raging out at you. I suspect that he used the POA to subsitute his name on the CD's as beneficiary or put them in the trust, and this is called abuse of power of attorney and he can face legal charges for doing this and make restitution of the money or will have to reverse what he did and convert the ownership back to you. If you are lucky the CD's are in the trust and if you are named as trust beneficiary you will get a share of them.

YOU NEED A TRUST ATTORNEY to help you get this straightened out and you are crazy if you don't get one soon. You have CD's that could be worth tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars and you won't get them without legal assistance!! You have a right to see what the trust says and the attorney can get it and your money for you.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

 

[seniorjudge]

"...My uncle who passed had given me a handwritten note stating I had CD's coming to me...."

This is worthless. If your uncle who passed had wanted to make sure you got the CDs, he went about it the wrong way.

 

[raf]

Thank you both very much for your response. I just had a question for Senior Judge. If the paper stating we are Trustees to the CDS is worthless, then what would be the point in Seeing a Lawyer? Would we still have a chance to get maybe a portion of our CDS Back with the note?
Thank you again for this wondeful board and help.

 

[seniorjudge]

Let me ask you if there is anything in the trust agreement itself that would lead you to believe that you should have these CDs?

Is there any fraud on the part of bad uncle?

If you can prove fraud, then the note may be of interest to the court. But if you cannot prove fraud, everything is lost.

There are just too many facts here that I do not know about for me to say.

That is why you need to see a lawyer to determine if there is any kind of case at all.

 

[raf]

HI Senior Judge,

I do not know what is in the trust. Uncle ranted he is Trustee and
would not answer if I was remembered in the trust. Just snarled
"Everything is being worked on by accountants/lawyers" Told me to never email or bother him again. I have written out a nice note telling him I dont appreciate being called terrible names. I have yet to send it.
This uncle was the first one to tell me we were being left CDS by his brother.
Then the dead uncle who owned the CDS wrote me a note stating so. This was before a trust was written.
Dead uncle has only been gone for a few weeks. Mean one wont answer questions to anyone.
Mean uncle also quit claim deeded grandparents house 50% to him 50 to the trust. He feels he is the remaining son and is entitled to everything.
I tried to contact his son who promptly hung up on me.
I dont want to cause any more waves, should I give it a few more weeks to see if I hear from them or see a lawyer immediatly? Dead uncle was a extremely well off
Can he manipulate the trust so he gets even more money?
If I am a beneficiary, how would I even know? Does the lawyer contact you and how soon?
Thank you again for your help/suggestions.

 

[seniorjudge]

"...I dont want to cause any more waves, should I give it a few more weeks to see if I hear from them or see a lawyer immediatly?..."

Hire a lawyer immediately.

 

[Dandy Don]

It is likely that he has cashed in the CD's fradulently, before the death occurred, by using the POA. Your attorney can help you get him to provide information about the CD's during probate proceedings or ask him if it's wise to pay a private investigator $100-$200 to do a financial background check on the decedent to find out where and what his assets were and where he held his bank accounts or call each bank to find out if he had CD's there.

Your attorney can also advise uncle to return the misappopriated CD money (if he in fact did cash them in) to the originally named beneficiaries or else face the penalty of having criminal charges filed against him and your attorney can also tell you whether your state has abuse of power of attorney laws on the books.

The document you have that states they were given to you has no value as far as filing for probate, but it could be useful later on in trial or during probate proceedings if uncle continues to deny that there are any CD's.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

 

[dmode101]

Without knowing the actual terms of the trust it's impossible for us to tell you waht you're entitled to. You or your attorney should request a copy of the portions of the trust that relate to you.

The handwritten note could theoretically be considered a "trust" document but if the CD's are titled in a different trust, or even if they are in a probate estate that distributes otherwise, the doucment will have no legal effect, other than possibly serving as evidence if there is some ambiguity.

Good luck.