Attorney won't give me Money from Will ?

Question

My grandmother died and put it in her will that her lawyer who is trustee of her Estate should give me money from it 'at his discretion'.
The problem is my grandmother trusted this lawyer and he is the biggest scumball whomever lived.
I was supposed to receive three boxes from her estate an disntead her had them valued and sold at auction.
Ive seen him ignore several of her verbal wishes already.
He is refusing to give me ANY money from her estate.
I took care of her only daughter and grew up abused by my mother.
So my Grandmother took pity and wanted me to be provdided for when I needed it after her death.
What should I do about this lawyer refusing to give me any money form the trust ?

The Will seems very loosely worded.
I will take it to another estate lawyer who also sits on Ethics Review Board. Just dont have money yet (800 fee)
This Will has torn my entire family apart. Amazing how money makes people go nuts.
No Thanksgiving with family for me!

i sat in with my grandmother when she spoke to her lawyer. all of her verbal requests he pretended never happened.
She was overly trusting and thouhgt hewas was brilliant.

Answer 1

this is a tough question--usually the trust would have provisions for the disbursement, saying what the trustee has to do in order to comply with how your grandmother wanted to money disbursed beyond "at his discretion..." If the trust has no such provisions, then you will likely have to wait until the trust matures (if it matures--this is another detail) to get your money, unfortunately.

I could be wrong and you should consult another lawyer if you have the means--but I've asked some other student friends and this is what we all think.

Answer 2

It is difficult to answer this question without having read the trust provisions in the will. Often trusts are "split interest trusts" with some people having only an income interest and others having a remainder interest. There is a possibility that the terms of the trust give income for life to your mother, while allowing the trustee to use his discretion to make distributions to you of principal. There are often times in which the trust instrument specifies under what circumstances money from principal may be used. Often the principal may be used for health, education and welfare, and sometimes the trustee is required to make an inquiry into the other available resources and income of the person requesting the discretionary distribution from the trust.

The trustee, in exercising his discretion, has to consider and balance all of the interests of people who have a beneficial interest in the trust. Believe me, he probably has everything well documented as to your request and why he denied your request. Courts are reluctant to question a trustee's discretion, however, the trustee must be in a position to be able to go to the probate court and justify why he made the decision he made.

What should you do? Talk to another lawyer, and be prepared to pay for good legal advice. If you can't afford a lawyer, you may want to speak to the folks at your local legal aid office.

Answer 3

Unfortunately, it sounds like you are in a tough situation. It could be easily argued the grandmother left it in the lawyers discretion because she did not trust your judgement. This gives the so called "scum bag" alot of discretion.
There should be some sort of guidelines though, such as getting off drugs, staying out of trouble, living a morale life, or whatever.
You could hire your own lawyer, to set some reasonable conditions that would follow your grandmothers wishes.

Answer 4

Working at a cemetery for almost 2 yrs.. you see this type of thing more often than you wish to talk about. My suggestion would to be to contact another estate lawyer, have him review the will and see what "exactly" is written in there. Literally have them sit there with you and go over every little detail. And any type of verbal conversations that have went on won't count. Unless there are witness's to that effect... and even then it is very shady.....

I wish you the best of luck in this situation. Unfortunately I have seen money bring out the worst in people.

Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear and greed. --Albert Einstein

Answer 5

Verbal wishes will not be followed because there is no proof that those were her wishes, whereas what her will says is what the attorney has to go by. I work with alot of estates and it usually takes a while for the money to be dispersed because all the final bills and judgments must be paid off first. If those three boxes were not named in the will, either specifically, generally or in the residuary clause, then they can be auctioned off and the money put into the estate account.

Answer 6

I suggest looking into finding another lawyer to sue for legal malpractice.