Do I have any claim to the funds in a trust account if I was the trust beneficiary but the account was closed?

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Do I have any claim to the funds in a trust account if I was the trust beneficiary but the account was closed?

My brother and I were named the trust beneficiaries with a 50/50 split of a $50,000 trust fund that was opened back about 1997 by my grandmother after my grandfather died in 1996, unfortunately when she opened the trust she had it last only a year or so and my brother has received his full amount over the past couple of years, but when I went to talk to her, after her promising both me and my father that my full amount was still available, about getting amounts out and she gave me a note after removing $10,000 saying that was all I was getting and she couldn’t afford to give me the rest.

Asked on March 14, 2011 under Estate Planning, Texas

Answers:

M.T.G., Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 13 years ago | Contributor

So let me fully understand the question here.  First, your grandmother is still alive, correct?  And she created a living trust and funded the trust with $50,000, correct?  It was a revocable trust meaning that she still maintained control and she was probably the named trustee, correct?  Then double check with  trust and estates attorney in your area but I believe that if the trust was revocable she could indeed just decide not to give you the funds.  She revoked it.  The fact that she gave your brother additional funds than you from the trust means he got a bigger gift rather than the proceeds from the trust as a beneficiary.  Check it out.  Good luck.


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