Beneficiary of a living trust?

Question

My husband's grandmother passed away a little over a week ago and she had a living trust that had her oldest son as the beneficiary of 50% of it and my husband and his two sisters as the beneficiaries of the other 50% (their dad passed away 6 years ago, so this is his half). We are still waiting to hear anything back on the trust and don't know what we are supposed to do. Are we supposed to just sit and wait until we hear from his uncle? She lived over 500 miles away so it is difficult to find much out. We do know that part of the trust is the house and they have been going through the house and dividing stuff out but shouldn't they be doing that with the consent of my husband and his sisters?

? · Accepted Answer

who was left as trustee?  the  trustee is responsible (just as a lawyer would be in a situation with a will) for dividing  and distributing the assets in the manner that the trust calls out.  HOWEVER., the trustee can charge the "trust" an hourly rate as a fee to handle all the business of dividing the assets.  This will / can take a large chunk off the top of the divisible amount.   people get greedy when money is concerned, and if they have control over it they tend to want to keep as much as possible.  Ask for a copy of the trust paperwork and see what it says and then ask how and when things will be handled by whomever the trustee is.  Good luck.. Im still dealing with the "trustee" my brother 10 years after my mom's death.. all he did was cash in her life insurance and leave everything else a mess.  .

Mr Placid · Answer

Well, what do you want?  Do you want the money in the trust?  Do you want distributions?  What?

Here's the thing: A beneficiary of a trust has various rights.  Beneficiary has the right to an accounting, a right to distributions from the trust in accordance with the terms of the trust, and the right to hold the trustee liable for negligent mismanagement.  HOWEVER, there is no "trust fairy" that is going to fly down and do everything for you.  A beneficiary who wants to enforce his rights must go to court if he feels the trustee is not complying with the trust terms.  You can't just sit on your hands and expect your fairy godmother to make everything right.

Anonymous · Answer

It will take way more than a week for the estate to be resolved.  Contact the executor of the estate and/or the Trustee of the Trust to find out the status.  If you don't know they are contact the Probate Court in the county where your grandmother lived.

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Beneficiary of a living trust?

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