What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California
Contentious divorce several years ago. Currently my 16 year old son lives with father and his new wife, 15 yr old daughter (who has autism) lives with me and my new husband.
When each of our children were born ex husbands parents set up UTMA accounts for the child. Ex husband was made custodian. When we divorced I saw no reason to contest or question this, we had all agreed the money was in the accounts for the children after age 18, for school, car, etc....
Last year I found out Ex took $4000. from each childs account and opened a new bank account with his name only on it. During a hearing regarding child support I questioned this and his reply was "It's to make their lives better" He assured the judge that all the money was there, and the judge explained that he better make sure to keep it separate and stop mixing his own money into that same account. As it was, he was adding his own money to that account and writing checks for child support and attorney fees from that account.
He's a controlling man (why he's my ex) and I pretty much resigned myself to let that sleeping dog lie, but I recently started the transitional planning process for my daughter. She will be 18 in 3 years. When she turns 18 she will be eligible for certain government services and subsidies, but with this UTMA she will be denied. I would like the money to be in a Special Needs Trust for her, so she'll be eligible for benefits while retaining as much of her assets as possible. I have to think long term for her. I can't have a reasonable conversation with my ex about this because he refuses to divulge any information regarding the UTMA's, saying "In regards to the kids custodial accounts they are none of your business. You have nothing to do with it at all. The accounts were set up by my parents for me to do with how I wish to help them in there lives. You need to stay out of my business" He's also twisted enough to refuse to convert the funds because it would be a hit to me. Additionally my daughter will continue to live with me and my husband as long as she likes, which may be forever given her disability. Her father controlling her money is just one more way to continue to control me, since I would be the one having to deal with him.
What I want is to get a full accounting of the UTMA's for both children, to make sure the money is still there and available for them at age 18. I want to take control of my daughters UTMA and convert it to a special needs trust that I control, since she'll be living with me.
I know I need to send a certified letter to EX asking for the accounting of the UTMA funds, and if he refuses, I'll have to petition the court to compel him to comply. How difficult would this be to do on my own? Should I petition at the same time to have custody changed or wait till I get an accounting. My daughter is 15, but like I said, affected by autism so I don't know that she can petition for a custodian change or how that would work. Do I have enough cause or does he have to be blatantly mismanaging their funds. I know that I'm opening up a huge can of worms when I start this process, but I have to think about my daughters future. There was approximately $20,000 in the account as of last year. I'm sorry if this is long, but I wanted to try to give as clear a picture of the situation as possible.
Contentious divorce several years ago. Currently my 16 year old son lives with father and his new wife, 15 yr old daughter (who has autism) lives with me and my new husband.
When each of our children were born ex husbands parents set up UTMA accounts for the child. Ex husband was made custodian. When we divorced I saw no reason to contest or question this, we had all agreed the money was in the accounts for the children after age 18, for school, car, etc....
Last year I found out Ex took $4000. from each childs account and opened a new bank account with his name only on it. During a hearing regarding child support I questioned this and his reply was "It's to make their lives better" He assured the judge that all the money was there, and the judge explained that he better make sure to keep it separate and stop mixing his own money into that same account. As it was, he was adding his own money to that account and writing checks for child support and attorney fees from that account.
He's a controlling man (why he's my ex) and I pretty much resigned myself to let that sleeping dog lie, but I recently started the transitional planning process for my daughter. She will be 18 in 3 years. When she turns 18 she will be eligible for certain government services and subsidies, but with this UTMA she will be denied. I would like the money to be in a Special Needs Trust for her, so she'll be eligible for benefits while retaining as much of her assets as possible. I have to think long term for her. I can't have a reasonable conversation with my ex about this because he refuses to divulge any information regarding the UTMA's, saying "In regards to the kids custodial accounts they are none of your business. You have nothing to do with it at all. The accounts were set up by my parents for me to do with how I wish to help them in there lives. You need to stay out of my business" He's also twisted enough to refuse to convert the funds because it would be a hit to me. Additionally my daughter will continue to live with me and my husband as long as she likes, which may be forever given her disability. Her father controlling her money is just one more way to continue to control me, since I would be the one having to deal with him.
What I want is to get a full accounting of the UTMA's for both children, to make sure the money is still there and available for them at age 18. I want to take control of my daughters UTMA and convert it to a special needs trust that I control, since she'll be living with me.
I know I need to send a certified letter to EX asking for the accounting of the UTMA funds, and if he refuses, I'll have to petition the court to compel him to comply. How difficult would this be to do on my own? Should I petition at the same time to have custody changed or wait till I get an accounting. My daughter is 15, but like I said, affected by autism so I don't know that she can petition for a custodian change or how that would work. Do I have enough cause or does he have to be blatantly mismanaging their funds. I know that I'm opening up a huge can of worms when I start this process, but I have to think about my daughters future. There was approximately $20,000 in the account as of last year. I'm sorry if this is long, but I wanted to try to give as clear a picture of the situation as possible.