My sister's power to settle my parents estate is a concern for me. She's an extreme control freak, but she doesn't ask for help. In their trust, my parents name her as the successor trustee, but state that they would like us to do the work together. My sister is now taking care of my dad's funeral and he has recently resigned as a trustee and has resigned from hospice care, which he died in a year ago. He has all his marbles, and he doesn t want to deal with this world any longer. It is a big estate, we don t even know how large it really is, because dad has always been so private. But more than half of it is being given to charity and the rest divided evenly between three siblings and grandchildren. One specific concern is that my parents hold a private mortgage for my sister's home, and it was never properly recorded. And there are other loans to her and her husband that I'm not aware of. How do I keep a girl accountable without acting like a jerk?
While that is a difficult situation, you do have rights as a beneficiary of your parents' estates and trusts. Although the trusts themselves can give you certain rights, so does state law. Many states have adopted the Uniform trust code, which provides significant rights to qualified beneficiaries, especially when it comes to knowing what is happening with the trust.
After Tina Turner died at 83, she gave us these 5 retirement lessons.
All trustees have a fiduciary obligation to act in the best interest of the beneficiaries. If your sister has a conflict of interest, she must err on the side of the beneficiaries rather than herself. Of course, that does not mean she will. The lack of transparency that you expect breeds distrust. Even trustees and personal representatives who're doing nothing wrong are often accused of misdeeds when they don't share information.
My mom's stay in rehab was ruled out by Medicare because Medicare wanted to stop paying for her. I successfully appealed - twice - and you can, too.
I would not be too concerned about my parents' estate and my concerns if I were a jerk, he said. Retain a trust and estate attorney in the state where your parents lived to advice you and keep an eye on your sister. What is the best way to keep it professional? And your lawyer can interact with your sister's attorney, who will likely do their best to keep your sister on the straight and narrow.
If you have to go to court and get the information to which you are entitled or change trustees, you will have a much stronger case if you have a record of effort your attorney has already made to get results short of bringing a lawsuit.