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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I haven’t read all the posts.

I’m a lawyer - not trusts and estates - but I come from a family with lots of trusts and I’m the de facto family coordinator of everything.

Did your uncle move to a different state recently? Some states require remainder beneficiaries to be kept abreast of trust accountings. That may be what this is.

As for your questions, you would need the trust document to answer most of those. You may or may not have the right to access the trust document.

But basically here is the deal. The most likely scenario is that at some point someone older than your uncle set up a trust and made your uncle the primary beneficiary. You are the remainderman, since he is childless the trust was probably written so nieces or nephews are the back up remaindermen if he doesn’t have any kids. It could also just be divided any descendants of the original grantor so it could be not just you guys but also cousins or ai ya and uncles. It is also very possible that your uncle has the right to write a will and leave it to the grantors descendants or

Will post more later [/quote]

Sorry, I had to leave and do something else. Saw your update.

I wonder if your uncle moved to a different state lately? Some states require accounting to remainder men, some do not.

Or maybe he changed financial institutions and the new bank thinks they need to send you a reporting whereas the old bank did not?

Or maybe he actually set this trust up for himself recently?

Anyway. In terms of what you should do - nothing. In terms of what you should count on - nothing.

It's entirely possible he has the ability to change the remainder men. It's also possible he has the right to leave you next to nothing and leave the rest to charity.

I would assume that you inherit (nothing) though it's entirely possible you will inherit a ton.

I would NOT do anything to antagonize the situation. Technically as a remainder man, you could try to insist he follows the terms of the trust to a T (ie that he doesn't spend too much on himself). But pushing him about this could backfire because he could write a will leave the trust to someone else.

I don't have kids and my dad's lawyer put all sort of provisions in there to make sure my nieces and nephews wouldn't be able to pester me about this trust. I am the primary beneficiary.I have the right to leave it to them or to charity or to both. If one is a dick, I can leave it to the rest of them and exclude the one who is a dick.

Hard to know, since you haven't seen the trust.

But bottom line - don't antagonize your uncle. Be nice.

You might want to ask an attorney if you should ask for a copy of the trust, or you may want to ask your uncle who is lawyer is who is holding the documents for when he dies. But be wary of any lawyer who proposes any shenanigans designed to keep the money preserved for you. That could backfire, big time.

Bottom line, consider any inheritance a pleasant but not expected gift.
[/quote]

I just re-read your original post. I bet what happened is that since he is getting old, he decided to appoint a corporate trustee, the bank. Perhaps previously he was his own trustee and that's why he didn't bother with all the accounting. Maybe that's why you are getting it for the first time.

He likely can spend as much as he wants assuming it's his own expenses.

Probably when and if you inherit it, it will remain in trust.

Are your parents still alive? Did they have a similar trust in their estate?[/quote]

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