Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Washington
Breach of trust by personal representative
My father passed away and left an estate of $80,000 with no personal property or assets. In his will he listed my brother as personal representative and also had a trust listing me as trustee. He never actually put his money in the trust. He died in Oregon and my brother's attorney put the money in an account, which he explained would then be transferred to a trust to be distributed by me. Today I found out that my brother asked the bank to print him checks and he has spent $54,000 out of the account already. His attorney asked me to wait a few days to see if he can get my brother to return at least my half. I'm afraid that my brother is simply going to take the rest of the money. I'm in California and my brother is in Everett, Washington. I'm in college and have very little money. I have no idea what to do at this point and any help would be greatly appreciated.
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Breach of trust by personal representative
It is not clear where the probate was started. I'm admitted to practice in WA and OR. You need to find out whether the 80K was to be held in trust or not because you are the trustee of that trust. Who are the beneficiaries of that trust? Best to get your own counsel and not depend on what your brother's attorney is saying.
Re: Breach of trust by personal representative
It is not clear where the probate was started. I'm admitted to practice in WA and OR. You need to find out whether the 80K was to be held in trust or not because you are the trustee of that trust. Who are the beneficiaries of that trust? Best to get your own counsel and not depend on what your brother's attorney is saying.
Re: Breach of trust by personal representative
Is this probate filed in WA? If your father was a resident of OR and died there, probate would be in OR.
If this is an OR probate you need to restate the question as applying OR law. Wills often create trusts that are not funded until the probate process. If the estate has $80,000, it has assets of some sort. As to your brother having access to the money in the account, if he is paying off the the legitimate claims of creditors of the estate, his spending may be appropriate, but it is not clear what the money is going to.
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