Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Illinois

my Husband and are are trustee's of a special needs trust, The house is to be held in trust until my brother in law passes so he can collect SSI. My other bother in law has lived in the home for the last 5 yrs and now we have ask him to pay rent and split utilities and he has been told by his sister not to, She is upset that her father didn't leave he anything and has caused a lot of problems, Can we tell my convicted felon drug user brother in law to move out?

also we applied to become my disabled brother in law's payee and my sister in law went after 2 months and filed to become his payee and was allowed to become his payee which was very unfair she had not seen her father or brother for 5 yrs and now is trying to undermine her fathers last wishes just to be spiteful for not being left a dime.. Don't we have any legal right as a trustee? Everyone describes her as EVIL!


Asked on 1/16/11, 10:53 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Steve Raminiak Law Offices of Steve Raminiak, P.C.

RE: Can we tell my convicted felon drug user brother-in-law to move out? Yes, if the Special Needs Trust is the owner of 100% of the house. Like any owner, the Trust can rightfully demand rent and evict a tenant for failure to pay. However, since your brother-in-law may react violently to this, your should handle this very carefully and with the assistance of a lawyer.

RE: payee under SSI. It is my impression that your husband and sister-in-law are both siblings of your disabled brother-in-law and that neither of you live with your disabled brother-in-law. You may be able to explain why you should be the payee, but the SSA probably will not be very helpful. You should consider becoming your brother-in-law's Guardian. A Guardian would have clear priority to receive SSI over a sibling, and would likely be helpful in battling your sister-in-law's other efforts.

Feel free to call me for a free consultation. I'd be happy to lend a hand.

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Answered on 1/21/11, 1:05 pm


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