Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Virginia
My dad set up a simple Crummey trust in VA for my daughter, who is now 3. The money is in a VanGuard account mutual funds. My younger brother was managing it, and he resigned. Now my older brother is managing it, and has taken a positively hateful attitude towards me and my family. This week he asked me for my daughter's TIN for his tax accountant, and I simply asked for the name of the accountant so that I can ask a question about the K-1 form (there have been NO disbursements to her) and he is refusing me that information. This is just one example in a list of his uncooperative attitude with me. His emails are condescending, and he refuses to answer simple questions, instead guessing what I "really" am asking and answering questions that are not relevant and that I didn't ask. My dad asked him to resign as Trustee, he initially said he would, but then realized it was a way to continue to harass me, and now is refusing to resign. The Trustee attorney said that I can petition the court to remove him as Trustee, because of the difficulties I am having with him. Can I? How hard is that to have done? The stress that this is causing is killing my health. What is the procedure, are there witnesses, etc?
If it's doable and not awfully expensive I'll need an attorney. I live in Central VA.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Yes, of course, petition the court to have him removed as trustee which should be easy with the settlor's(your father's) support. (The attorney should be able to explain what's required on your part to make it happen.)