Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Colorado
I am the successor trustee to my Dad's estate and my sister is the sucessor trustee to my Mother's estate and has primarily been taken care of my Mother's finances since 1994. My Mother is still alive but unable to take care of either estate, so my sister has been appointed her conservator by the court in June 2012. My situation is that I requested a complete detailed reporting of my Mother's trust income and expenses as a beneficiary to my Mother's trust. But my sister says as a conservator she only is required to give me a profit and loss report and a balance sheet with no details of income or expenses. My question is:Don't I still have the right as a beneficiary to ask for a detailed income and expense report whether she is the trustee or conservator to my Mother's affairs or not?
2 Answers from Attorneys
I don't agree. As your mother's son, you are, or can request to have status as, an "interested person," which entitles you to copies of all of the reports the conservator files with the court. I am assuming this is in Colorado, and in Colorado the conservator must file a financial report each year with the court, generally using Form JDF 885. You can see the form at http://www.courts.state.co.us/Forms/Forms_List.cfm?Form_Type_ID=130. The form requires a detailed accounting of income and expenses and she must serve a copy of it on all interested persons. You can file a motion to compel her to do this if she has not been doing it and you could have her removed as conservator if she does not remedy the situation, as transparency is generally a good thing in the Court's view. Hope this helps.
Dave Rich's answer is an excellent explanation of Colorado law on conservators. Although you said that your sister said that she did not need to give you detailed financial data as a conservator, your description of the situation says that the money is trust income. Your sister may be acting or think she is acting as a trustee not a conservator. A trust is a private matter not normally regulated by the court. You may be a beneficiary of the trust even if you are not entitled to current income from the trust. A beneficiary of a trust is entitled to receive financial data concerning the trust. The trustee forms are similar, usually not filed with the court, and your remedies are somewhat different. You are still entitled to the requested information.
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