Does the executor of the trust have the authority to ask the beneficiary to provide receipts showing how they spent their disbursement?
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Does the executor of the trust have the authority to ask the beneficiary to provide receipts showing how they spent their disbursement?
My oldest brother is the executor of a trust of which I am a beneficiary. The last several years he has been telling me he needs the receipts for money he disburses from my trust to me “so that I can account for the money that I am giving you from the trust.” This kind of seems overboard or over controlling. Is all this really necessary?
Asked on July 19, 2011 under Estate Planning, Oregon
Answers:
M.T.G., Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
Just for clarification you are an executor of a Will and a Trustee of a trust. Here is the thing: a trustee for a trust bears a fiduciary responsibility to all in the trust and to the original settlor of the trust to distribute the funds as per the trust document. Soif the trust document states that the trustee can distribute the funds for say only educational purposes then he may indeed request verification that the funds were used for that purpose. If he can distribute for any legitimate purpose then I might tend to agree with you. So have someone take a look at the document for you and tell you if the request is legitimate. Good luck.
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