Mismanagement of Trust

Rhyork

Hi

When I was around 19 there was a trust holding money from my fathers estate. The money was not supposed to be released until I was older unless it was to buy property.

The entire fund would have been worth around £50,000 back in about 2001.

The executors allowed a partial release of £10-£20k of money immediately from the trust without keeping it in the trust fund but the will said all money should have remained within until I reached a certain age.

I believe they broke the wishes of my father by allowing the early release and in doing so broke up the fund into small pieces significantly under valuing the overall amount that should it have been explained to me in the first instance would have been used to purchase a house outright at the time a realistic prospect.

Please can someone explain how I go about making a complaint against the trustees one of whom is a solicitor in York. Now retired.

Thanks

DandelionPatrol

• Where did the '£10-£20k' go?
• How much is left now?
• And why do you not know exactly how much did go?
• If you had the money, did you not know about the terms of the trust?
• And how did you find out that the money was not supposed to be released until a certain age unless to buy property?

The questions are rather probing, but I think they all need your answer. You don't get a lot of sympathy if you took the money knowing what the trust fund was for .... Yes, the trustees may have messed up, but if they messed up in your full knowledge, in your own mind you have to take responsibility.

Rhyork

Hi, thanks for your help and time taking a look at this for me.

My Father died, the estate started to be reconciled and I received a cheque for around £15k, may have been £18k.

I was told by solicitor after having received the cheque that no more money can be made available as it would be held in trust. I asked for value told unknown.

I bought a car with the money it was a Ford Focus back then around £9000 also paid off some debts and went on holiday. I Didn't expect there to be a lot more

The fund value on top of the original amount turned out to be around £30k more and that was to be held in trust until I was 25. There were always 'issues' with giving me a full valuation all along and if that hadn't been the case I could have become more informed.

The terms of the trust were not made clear to me until long after the first money was sent to me.

If I had been made aware of the total fund value at the time I would have purchased a house outright.

At the beginning no one sat me down and said look you need to buy a home outright I was a nieve teenager who went and bought a car thinking I had my entire payout at the time.

Before any money at all was released other than to cover funeral costs all of the funds should have been placed in one account. My sister and I should have been informed of the total amount not had it dribbled out to us, we should have been informed of the trust terms and conditions, we should have been given some projections on what the money would have been worth based on the ENTIRE funds been allowed to grow until the end of the 25 year old trust condition of discharge of the funds.

Ie . Right now you have £50k but based on interest of x% then that will grow to £60k by the time you are 25. None of that was done, the money was held in a holding account as far as I know. we weren't given any ongoing projections, we weren't given any investment input.

DandelionPatrol

I think you need to go to the probate registry and get a copy of the will in the first instance and in the second to ask the trustee to provide accounts for the trust.

Overall, if I were your father and I knew you to be how you were coming across here, I think I would be giving you some money to blow then leaving the rest until you were old enough to regret blowing the first tranche.

Getting £9000 of Ford Focus was not a bad misuse of the money. A wiser spend than the same money on whatever beatup Merc you might get.

Rhyork

Thanks I'll get a copy of the will. Once I have that if I post here will you be automatically informed I have come back?

Quick question, what will the accounts for the trust tell us? And if I ask for them what will I tell the solicitor about the reason for wanting a copy?

Do you think it will make them suspicious about me wanting to make a complaint or do you think that is fairly normal thing to want?

theoretica

Rhyork wrote: »

At the beginning no one sat me down and said look you need to buy a home outright I was a nieve teenager who went and bought a car thinking I had my entire payout at the time.

Before any money at all was released other than to cover funeral costs all of the funds should have been placed in one account. My sister and I should have been informed of the total amount not had it dribbled out to us, we should have been informed of the trust terms and conditions, we should have been given some projections on what the money would have been worth based on the ENTIRE funds been allowed to grow until the end of the 25 year old trust condition of discharge of the funds.

Ie . Right now you have £50k but based on interest of x% then that will grow to £60k by the time you are 25. None of that was done, the money was held in a holding account as far as I know. we weren't given any ongoing projections, we weren't given any investment input.

You need to be clear in your own mind between two things - the legal duties of an executor, and what would have been ideal for you. The executors have a duty to distribute the estate as the will directs. An executor has no obligation to give financial advice to the beneficiaries. It is common for the estate to be paid out in batches before knowing the final figure - for instance most of the cash from a bank account can be distributed before the house has sold and at the time the executors won't know what the house will fetch. Some people understandably object to waiting for all their inheritance while a house sits without a buyer.

DandelionPatrol

Rhyork wrote: »

Thanks I'll get a copy of the will. Once I have that if I post here will you be automatically informed I have come back?

Quick question, what will the accounts for the trust tell us? And if I ask for them what will I tell the solicitor about the reason for wanting a copy?

Do you think it will make them suspicious about me wanting to make a complaint or do you think that is fairly normal thing to want?

I will not be automatically informed, but if you post on this thread, rather than starting a new one, it will be raised to the top of the list and hopefully someone will give an informed answer. I am not indispensable!

The accounts will tell you what has happened with the money. You do not have to give the solicitor any explanation as to why you want the accounts. Yes it will give rise to suspicion that you will raise a complaint, but you can quite reasonably say that if there are no grounds for complaint, the accounts will show this.

getmore4less

If once you have the facts you still think they have done something wrong you will have to take them to court yourself if you cannot get redress through the complaints procedures.

The will should outline the terms of the trust.

It may be that not all the money was put into the trust.


You want an inventory and account for the estate.
The trust accounts.


You will ne to take expert advise to see if there has been any administration issues with distribution and investment choices.

BobQ

Your OP does not make it totally clear if the Trust was established by the Will or was already in existence. But I assume it was created by the Will.

You need to establish what type of trust it is and what the trustees were allowed to do. For example did they release £15K to you because you asked for it and the Trust allowed them to do so at their discretion? Or were they instructed by the terms of the Trust to pay the sum to you at a certain age?

If you believe they have mismanaged the assets of the trust, you need to be clear what they were told to do in the Trust document/Will.