Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Vermont

Re: What recourse does an estate have if the stipulations of the deceased , in t

Probably none. If the bequest was a completed gift, it's like giving money to your 25 yr old for med school and instead he buys a Porsch. If the gift was done under a trust or was stipulated in a way with specific legal recourse, then a court could/would need to intervene to determine if funds were misused or mis-allocated. If this is a charity (501c3) there would be considerable leeway to allow the institution to use the funds for "appropriate" needs. (If money was given to paint a building, for ex. and the painting was already done, then some other use (maintenance) would be ok. The attorney general of the state (who has jurisdiction here) would need to be convinced that there was an egregious misuse of the funds. Sounds like they already have the money, so the probate process is over, the estate is closed, and distribution has already been made. If control "after death" is desired, the solution is to create an irrevocable trust, and/or fund it during life (inter vivos) or pour over the funds after death into the trust instrument, and then appoint trustees who you know will implement your desires. If the funds are really big, creat a Foundation (a la Rockefeller, Getty, Gates, etc.)

If the probate proecess in on-going, and there is a challenge to the validity of the will (duress, incompetance, fraud, etc.) it is a whole different, and much more complicated story.