Trust in jeopardy?

Trusts Discussion
1

I have a client who has taken action against her sister, who is trustee/beneficiary of their father’s will trust. The trustee is refusing to comply with any requests for information.

Against my advice, there has been contact between them and she has been told that her sister’s lawyers are now saying that that because of her recent actions against her as trustee (breach of trust etc) and specifically threat of pursuing claims against her within 21 days for non compliance, she has put the trust in jeopardy. The end result of this being that the amount of money left in the trust can only be divided equally between all 5 beneficiaries to avoid future action by anyone who thinks they didn’t get a fair share.

I wasn’t aware that her actions would be putting the trust in jeopardy in any way - unless there’s something I don’t know?

2

I suggest you obtain a copy of the will from the Probate Registry to identify if the sister’s solicitors are merely trying to frighten off the client, Not sure, though, why calling for information should put the trust (as opposed to the trustee) in jeopardy.

Paul Saunders FCIB TEP

Independent Trust Consultant

Providing support and advice to fellow professionals