QUESTION
Can my brother"s ex wife sue my family trust? And threaten probate court as well?
Asked on Jun 22nd, 2014 on Trusts and Estates - California
More details to this question:
The trust contains a "spendthrift" clause that I read to say that I, as the sole trustee, can delay distributions to avoid such an occurrence. The estate is illiquid. My Mom just passed. The terms say my brother gets the house they bought for him and 225K. I will have to sell my her house to come up with the 225k. These number were based on number around my dads passing in 2006--so I am already way behind the 8 ball here. Can she drag this into a probate court? No idea what my brother promised her but her attorney says they want half of his nut. My mom had an attorney but at 475.00 an hr I have to get out in front of this
1 ANSWER
2 Awards
Hi,
She could certainly file a lawsuit, but I can't tell you whether it would have any merit without seeing the estate docs. Given the fact that your Mom just passed away, you definitely have a reasonable amount of time to liquidate the assets of the estate prior to providing an accounting and distributing funds to the beneficiaries.
Feel free to give me a call or shoot me an email if you would like to discuss the situation. I have handled many probate litigation matters and bill at a substantially lower hourly rate.
Thanks,Jon
Answered on Jun 23rd, 2014 at 11:04 AM