Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Missouri
after death, sister took on role of trustee, but is NOT the trustee
Ofter our mother died, I expected her living trust administered through her bank to begin functioning as her trustee. It was supposed to take over once she was incapacitated, but that never happened. Unfortunately, sibling decided to begin acting as trustee without legally being assigned the role. The bank trustee began working with the trust several months after our mother's death. But their has still been NO accounting of what happened between the time my mother became incapacitated, and several months after her death, approximately 6 months. The bank says they are a successor trustee and thus have no accountability to the trust to check out what happened to our mother's bank accounts, pensions, iras, etc. when under the care of our sibling.
Does the trustee or the bank truly have no responsibility to go back from date of mom's incapacitation, and make sure everything checks out with what she did with mom's money, pensions, etc. There has been a huge problem of honesty with this sibling who put herself in this position by her actions. What do the rest of us do? We are afraid we have lost assests, and we are afraid of what her actions have left us all open to. Thank you for your help!
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: after death, sister took on role of trustee, but is NOT the trustee
If the bank did not have notice that your mother was incapacitiated or deceased then they probably have no liability until such time as they were notified. Generally a successor trustee does not have a duty to check into the actions of the predecessors.
The beneficiaries of the trust would have action against your sister if her actions were unauthorized.
My question would be whether these assets were in the trust at your mother's death. Assets like pension plans and IRAs would not be a trust asset but may have been payable to the trust or some other beneficiary. Was the bank account in the name of the trust or in your mother's name possibly joint with your sister.
If your mother died in MO then you need to check with a local attorney in that state.
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