Understanding Trusts and the Roles of Beneficiaries and Trustees, Reasons for Beneficiaries to Sue Trustees, Failure to Provide Information or Accountings, California Trust & Probate Litigation Lawyers. Receiving updates? A trust is a legal arrangement in which one person or entity, called a trustee, manages assets on behalf of another person or entity, called the beneficiary.A trust beneficiary is entitled to receive trust assets or income generated by those assets, according to the conditions set by the trust creator. Can a Beneficiary Sue a Trustee? - bainslawoffices.com Leading with Empathy is the cornerstone of RMO LLP Founding Partners Scott Rahn and Sean Muntzs effort to build a national inheritance dispute law firm with intention. cause to potentially remove and surcharge them. Depending on the terms of the trust, distributions can be in the form of the transfer of a specific asset, a lump sum cash payment or periodic payments made over time. When a trustee is personally benefiting from trust assets via fraud, forgery, or coercion. As a beneficiary of a trust, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is to sit idly by while administration takes place. Trustee fraud is a type of trustee malfeasance, but one that involves an intentional bad act by the trustee to benefit him/herself to the detriment of the trust beneficiaries or third parties. In fact, it's quite common to be both a trustee and a beneficiary of a trust. Trustee malfeasance refers to any type of negligent, self-serving, erroneous, or retaliatory conduct committed by the trustee of a trust resulting in harm to trust assets or beneficiaries. In all of these scenarios, the trustees actions amount to a breach of duty so suing the trustee with help from a probate lawyer would not just be warranted but recommended. Limit the scope of the meeting to a discussion of what the trust instrument says and how trust administration works. Please reference the Terms of Use and the Supplemental Terms for specific information related to your state. A trustee does have a fiduciary duty to the trust beneficiaries. You can sue a trustee for a wide variety of reasons, and often win, because a trustee is held to a very high legal standard of behavior and accountability. hire a probate lawyer to help them recover the property they believe belongs to the trust. Can a beneficiary criminally harass a trustee. - JustAnswer As the worlds first robot lawyer, weve helped thousands of users sue anyone, from their next-door neighbors to big corporations such as: We have helped over 300,000 people with their problems. A classic example of trustee fraud is called a sham trust, in which a trust is set up only to serve the interests of the trusts creator, with no real intention to transfer ownership of funds or property. In some cases, you may not know the entire scale of the damage. Need Professional Help? Our experienced probate attorneys assist trust beneficiaries every day with their trustee disputes. The process involves establishing legal Standing, gathering evidence, and filing a lawsuit. Can a beneficiary sue a trustee if the trustee has breached their fiduciary duties, committed misconduct or harmed the trust? A common example is when a trustee sells trust assets to themselves. Beneficiaries might consider suing a trustee for various reasons, usually related to the trustees performance of their fiduciary duties. There are signs of mismanagement that you should watch out for such as delays, inaccurate accounting, unclear answers to basic questions, and many others. Consider when one spouse passes away, the living spouse of the decedent is frequently named executor.