beneficiary of a trust

[iloveglee]

I am the beneficiary of a trust that was written in Florida. The successor trustee has done very little in the way of seeking out the assets and winding up the trust. he has just contacted us to tell me there is an amount of money in this trust - an amount which makes no sense to me - but has not provided any evidence as to what was in the trust when it ended, or evidence of what these assets were worth. i am being expected to simply believe the figure i have been given and accept the amount that the share out makes. it is not a large amount but i have the feeling that this is not allowed, the last grantor of the trust died more than 4 years ago and i am sure something should have been done by now. what am i entitled to as a beneficiary in terms of information and evidence of the trust's value.

[atalanta]

You need a specialist lawyer. If you are in the UK, you may have to start by asking for help at the US consulate. Do you feel like taking a holiday in Florida ?

[Barmaid]

I cannot comment with any certainty on the law in Florida - although it being a state that recognises the concept of a Trust there must be similarities with english law (a trust being a peculiarly english invention). That being the case, I would suggest that at the very least you are entitled to the trust instrument and a copy of the accounts.

I've had a very quick look at the law in Florida and found this, which may assist
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0700-0799/0736/Sections/0736.0813.html

[iloveglee]

thank you for the link it provides very useful information. however, one of the beneficiaries has been in touch with the successor trustee and asked for an accounting. he refuses to send it, he is not a us citizen, nor is he a resident of florida, or the uk. he says we have to accept what he says is the amount in the trust and basically take it or leave it. unfortunately the amount amounts to very little and not enough to pursue him through the court. we suspect that there is rather more in the trust, even he does not know how much and has not yet bothered to find out, his behaviour suggests he suspects that there is a great deal and wants to pay us out what he thinks we should have and get us off his back. it seems that unless we are prepared to spend a large amount of money taking him to court we are probably on a loser here.

[Barmaid]

Where does the trustee live? If the trust is established in Florida I would imagine Florida law applies and I would also imagine (without having looked at the code) it might be possible to have him removed in these circumstances - in this country if the trustee was out of the jurisdiction for 12 months his removal can be automatic and not too costly.

[iloveglee]

The trustee lives in australia, he works abroad a lot and is very hard to get hold of. the original grantors of the trust lived in florida, and three of the beneficiaries live in the uk. the largest beneficiary is the person who is the successor trustee to the tune of 90% of the total value of the trust. It is made more complicated by the fact that there has been nothing done to identify the trust assets until a few months ago, even though the last trustee died more than 4 years ago. we don't seem to be able to get a straight answer to questions, and we have had absolutely NO information at all. at least florida statutes have been contravened already, but other than resorting to law we feel helpless. the biggest problem in all this is that we are family and there is nothing worse than this kind of situation within families.