Living trust and psychological disorders

houdini8

New Member
Jurisdiction
Massachusetts
My father has a well-known psychological condition known as borderline personality disorder which typically leads among other things, to lifelong patterns of manipulative behavior toward loved ones, as well as other kinds of emotional and physical violence.

For the last 9-10 years, he has been using his estate-planning process to express his views on which of his two offspring is more deserving (me or my sister).

My father and I both live in Argentina (country in which holds sole citizenship), though we haven't spoken for 7 years.

My sister lives in the U.S. - Mass. (both she and I have dual U.S./Argentine citizenship).

Argentine law strictly prohibits a parent from disinheriting any offspring. Typically an estate is divided into 50% for a spouse if one exists, and the rest is divided among the children of the deceased.

Most of this estate is invested in U.S. stocks via a brokerage account, and recently my father has been in talks with my sister to make her the executer of a living trust in which his current wife, my sister and her children will be sole beneficiaries, excluding me and my children.

My question is:
1. how can I contest this arrangement and exercise the law of the land where my father resides vs. the law in the country where he simply happens to have his investments?
2. if this is possible, how might I locate the accounts / documents involved in order to contest, assuming that I may not have my sister's help?
 
1. how can I contest this arrangement and exercise the law of the land where my father resides vs. the law in the country where he simply happens to have his investments?

You can't. In the US one is allowed to disinherit one's children. A trust is a private contract between the maker of the trust and its trustee and is enforceable with regard to any property or assets located in the US.

2. if this is possible, how might I locate the accounts / documents involved in order to contest, assuming that I may not have my sister's help?

You can't. Once these assets are owned by a US trust you won't be able to enforce any Argentine law against disinheriting you, except for assets located in Argentina.
 
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