Can the trustees of a Trust use capital in it to pay care fees?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
Can the trustees of a Trust use capital in it to pay care fees?
My mother’s Will set up a Trust whereby her residual estate, circa 300k was to be invested so that the income produced provides for day to day living expenses for my father as long as he survives and upon his death the estate value falls to her 3 children as beneficiaries, 2 of whom have also been named as trustees of the Trust. Most of the capital has been invested in an ISA to produce the dividend income for our father and circa 40k has been kept in cash. My father unfortunately now requires high levels of care and support. Can we, subject to all beneficiaries agreeing, use the
capital funds within the Trust to pay towards this care and support.
Asked on July 13, 2017 under Estate Planning, Alaska
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
It depends entirely on what the document or instruments setting up/creating the trust say. The trust is governed by the documents which create it; if they give you discretion to do this, you can, but not otherwise--you cannot do anything not permitted by the terms of the trust. So the first thing you should do is review the documents which created the trust.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.