Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Michigan

Re: grandchildren vs. executor of Grandmothers will

If I understand the facts correctly, it sounds like the grandmother's Will contained a testamentary Trust for the grandchildren. Also, the trustee has been given complete discretion with regards to making distributions prior to age 24. If this is the case, and the trustee is unwilling to make distributions, it is unlikely that you will be able to force him or her to do so. You could file a Petition with the local probate court asking that the Trust be reformed to require current distributions. You would need to convince the Court that circumstances have changed so that the grandmother, if alive, would have wanted the distributions to be made now. One example of such circumstances would be if the grandmother thought that the amount passing to each child would be more that $5,000.00. Since the amount is only $5,000.00, the grandmother would not have wanted this smaller amount of money to remain in the Trust.

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Re: grandchildren vs. executor of Grandmothers will

No. If I understand your questions, the situation is this. The questioner is a grandchild who is a beneficiary under grandmother's will. Grandmother is still alive, but is under a guardianship, and the guardian of the grandmother is her daughter, the questioner's mother. Before she came under the guardianship, grandmother made a will, naming an unnamed person executor and giving the executor discretionary authority to disburse $5,000 to the named grandchildren. You imply some dissatisfaction with the executor, but there is insufficient information about that problem. And now some of the grandchildren, including the quesitoner, want to receive $5,000 right now. Is that about it?

So the answer is no. No one can receive a gift under a will until the person who made the will has died and the will has bee probated. That's the first thing. Then, even after grandmother dies, the executor apparently still has it within her complete discretion whether or not to make the gift. What can the mother/guardian or grandchildren do? Well, the guardian could ask the probate judge for permission to make an early gift, but it is very unlikely such a request would be granted. One thing for sure, the guardian better not spend any of grandmother's money on anything except services for the grandmother. When grandmother dies, all the beneficiaries could ask the judge to appoint someone else, and if you have good reasons for it, the judge may grant your request. If grandmother ever regains her competence, she could make a new will. And make early gifts herself.

Re: grandchildren vs. executor of Grandmothers will

I'd have to look at the exact language of the will. My guess is that a trust has been created that gives the trustee total discretion in what to disburse. If this is the case, the trustee can disburse the funds to the children early, unless you could show a good reason why it does not conform to the wishes to the creator of the trust. The question is, who has the proper standing to raise an objection and go to court to stop it? Consult a probate lawyer. Bill Stern 248-353-9400