Dear Harry,
I worry about my sister’s ability to settle my parents’ estate when the time comes. She is a control freak and refuses to ask for help. In their trust, my parents appoint her successor trustee but say they would like us to do the work together. Mom passed away a year ago and Dad recently went into hospice and resigned as trustee, so my sister now takes care of all her business. He has all his balls, just doesn’t want to deal with this world anymore. It’s a big area; we don’t even really know what the size is, because dad was always so private. More than half is donated to charity, and the rest is split unevenly among three siblings and grandchildren. A particular concern is that my parents hold a private mortgage for my sister’s house, and it was never properly registered. And there might be other loans to her and her husband that I’m not aware of. How can I monitor her or hold her accountable without acting like a jerk?
Dear reader,
It’s a difficult situation, but you have rights as the beneficiary of your parents’ estates and trusts. Trusts themselves may give you certain rights, but so can state law. Many states have adopted the Uniform Trust Code, which provides qualified beneficiaries with important rights, including to know what is going on with the trust.
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Further, all trustees have a fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of the beneficiaries. When your sister may have a conflict of interest, she should sin on the side of the beneficiaries rather than herself. But, of course, that doesn’t mean she will. Moreover, the lack of transparency that you anticipate breeds distrust. Even administrators and personal representatives who do nothing wrong are often suspected of wrongdoing when they refuse to share information.
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Given the size of your parents’ estate and your concerns, I wouldn’t be too concerned about “acting like a jerk.” Hire a trusts and estates attorney in the state where your parents lived to advise you and keep an eye on your sister. This way you can stay professional. It will not be you who will ask questions, but your lawyer. And your attorney can interact with your sister’s attorney, who will likely do their best to keep your sister on the right track.
If, in the end, you have to go to court to get the information you’re entitled to or to change trustees, you’ll have a much stronger case if you have a good record of the efforts your attorney has already made to get results unless you bring a trial.
2023-05-28 01:20:20
#sister #parents #trustee #straight #narrow #CNET
