- Jurisdiction
- Missouri
First of all, yes, we have an attorney and he has done quite a lot of work, but I have not been able to find an answer to what I feel should be a simple question:
Does the Successor Trustee of a Revocable Living Trust have the right to be informed of the status of financial accounts that had to go to Probate?
There is a pour-over Will, so the Probate Estate will pass on to the Trust eventually.
Here's the facts.
I am the Successor Trustee for my deceased Aunt's revocable living trust. While she was living, I had her durable general power of attorney, so I am familiar with her assets, having managed them solely her last two years. Unfortunately, her financial advisor, the person who established the Trust, her estate plan, and set up her 7 financial accounts, lied to me, saying all her financial accounts were TOD to the Trust. It turns out $500,000 in accounts he set up were not, and have gone to Probate.
I had not been informed that I had her power of attorney until I discovered it on my own, three years after my appointment.
Her financial advisor left the company not long after I got involved. Hmmm! The financial advisor who took over has apologized for the way the first one "dropped the ball", but the institution has not. They have only been cooperative because I have an attorney for the Trust separate from the financial institution.
I do not know the person my Aunt designated as Personal Representative, and he has not been forthcoming about those accounts, which supposedly have been moved (intact I'm told) to estate accounts in Probate. He did not know he had been named PR, and he is not familiar with her assets, but is a customer of the same financial institution.
Of course, my power of attorney rights ended when my Aunt died, and the financial institution cut off my access to monitor them. I cannot even advise the PR regarding the accounts that I had been in charge of prior to her death.
In Probate I have been designated as Successor Trustee to the Trust.
Needless to say, the financial institution has been sketchy, and all I want to do now is protect the beneficiaries, make sure that the accounts are being handled properly. Probate should be over in 3 months, but not being able to monitor the accounts after managing them for two years is disturbing.
I came back to say that my Aunt was in her 80's when her financial advisor recruited her, set up her Estate Plan, converted her assets to products he sold her, and failed to notify me of my power of attorney for three years. I mention that because my Dad incurred elder financial abuse form his broker 20 years ago, and I spent 15 years working on that, get restitution collected. I also did the forensic accounting that showed the amount of loss.
Does the Successor Trustee of a Revocable Living Trust have the right to be informed of the status of financial accounts that had to go to Probate?
There is a pour-over Will, so the Probate Estate will pass on to the Trust eventually.
Here's the facts.
I am the Successor Trustee for my deceased Aunt's revocable living trust. While she was living, I had her durable general power of attorney, so I am familiar with her assets, having managed them solely her last two years. Unfortunately, her financial advisor, the person who established the Trust, her estate plan, and set up her 7 financial accounts, lied to me, saying all her financial accounts were TOD to the Trust. It turns out $500,000 in accounts he set up were not, and have gone to Probate.
I had not been informed that I had her power of attorney until I discovered it on my own, three years after my appointment.
Her financial advisor left the company not long after I got involved. Hmmm! The financial advisor who took over has apologized for the way the first one "dropped the ball", but the institution has not. They have only been cooperative because I have an attorney for the Trust separate from the financial institution.
I do not know the person my Aunt designated as Personal Representative, and he has not been forthcoming about those accounts, which supposedly have been moved (intact I'm told) to estate accounts in Probate. He did not know he had been named PR, and he is not familiar with her assets, but is a customer of the same financial institution.
Of course, my power of attorney rights ended when my Aunt died, and the financial institution cut off my access to monitor them. I cannot even advise the PR regarding the accounts that I had been in charge of prior to her death.
In Probate I have been designated as Successor Trustee to the Trust.
Needless to say, the financial institution has been sketchy, and all I want to do now is protect the beneficiaries, make sure that the accounts are being handled properly. Probate should be over in 3 months, but not being able to monitor the accounts after managing them for two years is disturbing.
I came back to say that my Aunt was in her 80's when her financial advisor recruited her, set up her Estate Plan, converted her assets to products he sold her, and failed to notify me of my power of attorney for three years. I mention that because my Dad incurred elder financial abuse form his broker 20 years ago, and I spent 15 years working on that, get restitution collected. I also did the forensic accounting that showed the amount of loss.
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