Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
what r my rights as a benificiary?
Two sibs- mom died 2006. Sister is the executor.The terms of the trust read the estate is to be split equally. The estate consisted of aprox. cash 625k and a house. it was agreed sister got the cash we would get the house. The estate still has not been settled and sis has spent most the cash and while we live in the house.pay the insur. property taxes the house is still in the trust. still we hold no title to it . There was a clause in the trust that read'' the fair market value of undivided interest shall be valued at the time of disspersement'' the house is worth less than in o6 obviosley What I want to know is how can sis get her disspersement i.e. spend almost all the cash in acct. and we have nothing. she wants to hold the house in the trust till market goes up so that she doesn't pay us any cash can she do this??? the attor. that rep the trust/estate sis has gotten rid of or rather the attorney step down. The only thing I could get the attorn. to do was confirm she no longer rep. the estate she would not comment on the reason why. is there a time period that an estate should be settled. come to think of it she doesn't want to provide an accounting of estate either. help!
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: what r my rights as a benificiary?
You need a lawyer.
Re: what r my rights as a benificiary?
Your sister has obviously abused her powers and obligations as a trustee and you may need to try to have her removed. If your agreement was that she got all the cash and you got the house, why would she have to pay you any cash? I assume the agreement was that there would be an equal split with your getting the house and her getting an equal amount in cash, with the remaining money equally split. you should rememer that a house worth $600,000 is not the same as $600,000 in cash; if you sell the house you will pay 5-6% in commission, there is upkeep, if you rented it out there would be a negative cash flow; on the positive side there would be depreciation of a relatively small amount.
You should also get a book, such as from Nolo Press, as to trusts and what your rights are. Show the relevant parts to your sister and try to get her to resolve the matter or you will have no choice but to remove her as trustee, demand an immediate accounting, insist upon her paying back into the trust a sum necessary to allow for an even division, etc. tell her if she does not start to do so within 5 calendar days, to protect your family you have no choice but to retain an attorney to get your rights enforced and that will result in her having to pay money back to the trust.
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