Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania

You do not indicate whether your father is alive. Your father is the attorney's client not you. Making you trustee gives you no special rights vis-a-vis the attorney.

As to whether an attorney must maintain a copy, the answer is it depends. When I do trusts for clients, I keep a draft copy in my files, but not an executed copy, It is the client's responsibility to keep his documents in a secure place. If its lost or stolen, that is not my problem. Other attorneys will agree to store their client's wills/trusts for safekeeping.

What I would do is have your father request a copy if your father is mentally competent. If he is not mentally competent, does he have a financial POA? If so, the agent under the POA should write to the attorney and request a copy on behalf of your father. Make sure to include a copy of the POA and ask for a response in 30 days. That is ample time for the attorney to contact his storage and retrieve the file.

If the trust was done 22 years ago, it probably is in storage if the attorney kept his files this long. 22 years is a long time and if no other work was done it is possible that the attorney destroyed his files.

If the attorney still continues to ignore the letter, then after 30 days, contact the PA disciplinary board (if this is in PA) or the state bar. They will contact the attorney and if he ignores them he does so at his peril.