Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Florida

My brother passed away in April, 2010. My question has to do with his Trust and his appointed Trustee. There has been blatant mismanagement of the estate, including a demand that the urn must be buried before any inheritance will be distributed to the beneficiaries. The family has no plans to bury the urn. The Trustee is not a family member. The Trust did not go through probate. What the family most wants to know - is the demand by the Trustee for burial of the urn before any inheritance is paid a legal demand? It is not stated in the Trust by my brother that he wished this. The family has researched tirelessly and cannot find any federal or state law that an urn even has to be buried, period. The Trustee, by making this demand, is only trying to control the family out of spite. He also has grossly mismanaged the trust/estate in regard to other issues. This has been going on for 2 years. Trustee and his attorney refuse to let go of the burial issue. The family feels that it is none of their business what is done with the urn. My brother did not state any specific wish for his urn in writing or verbally. Does the Trustee have any legal grounds for making his demand? The family is in the process of reporting the Trustee's attorney to the FL Bar Association. We considered petitioning the court to have the Trustee removed but we do not have the funds to hire an attorney. Please advise me of the legalities in this case. We do not know what else we can do. Thank You


Asked on 4/20/12, 2:26 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Lucreita Becude Lucreita D. Becude, P.A.

Any attorney in your area would take this case as the trust - if there are funds there, will pay for the attorney fees and/or the trustee may be made to pay. Also any funds that were inappropriately handled MUST be repaid to the trust. GET AN ATTORNEY. Sounds to me the two of them are draining the funds. Good point in securing the help of the Florida Bar.

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Answered on 4/21/12, 5:35 am


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