Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Minnesota

Access to prior trustee's attorney bills
I am the successor trustee of a large estate. The beneficiaries of this estate sued the prior trustee for various forms of misconduct.

The predecessor trustee had signed an estate distribution agreement restricting remaining trust corpus ($100,000) to be utilized only for IRS audit. All attorneys fees were restricted due to self dealing of the predecessor trustee.

Subsequent to that agreement, the beneficiaries brought an action against the trustee for conversion, breach of fid. duties, etc.

Immediately upon the suit being filed, the trust attorney took the $100,000 in a retainer. No approval was received by attorney from the probate court to violate the estate agreeement. As the successor trustee, I have requested all of these attorney bills in order to determine if the attorneys knowingly defrauded the trust (which, I am confident that they did). I also need to file a final accounting and cannot do so until I reconcile the retainer accounts.

How do I get these billing statements, which should be trust property if a retainer was taken? How can an attorney stonewall, preventing a successor trustee from finalizing the accounting and closing the estate?

Thanks for your help!

Asked on 11/30/04, 9:58 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

David Kelly-952-544-6356 Kelly Law Office

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Re: Access to prior trustee's attorney bills

There's a reason why lawyers as a group have a bad reputation, second only to used car salesmen. I have actually confronted some of my fellows saying, "What you just did, that's why the rest of us have such a bad reputation."

You have a right to a full accounting from the attorney if in fact he was the attorney for the trust. If you have requested it and are not getting it, you can start by contacting the Lawyers Board of Professional Responsibility (1-80-657-3601). Ask them what you should do. They will probably suggest a formal complaint, which you can file with them. They are the agency which has their hand on the attorney's license to pratice law, so he or she can be expected to take them seriously.

I can see a possible problem with your position, and that is if the attorney has a retainer agreement which says he has been hired not by the trust but by the trustee as an individual. Even if this is the case, your starting point should still be the Lawyers' Board.

Good luck.

This response is for general information purposes only and does not create an attorney-client relationship. You are advised to consult the attorney of your choice concerning the details of your case.

Answered on 12/01/04, 10:49 am

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