What are the rights of a beneficiary once the grantor passes away?
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What are the rights of a beneficiary once the grantor passes away?
I have been named a beneficiary of a trust that was setup in FL. The grantor passed away 5 months ago and neither myself or any other named beneficiaries have received any information on the trust, a copy of the Will or any information on the insurance policy. What are the rights of beneficiaries in situations such as this? We have made multiple requests to the trustee of the estate ( a large investment firm) for these documents. We have been told multiple times that the documentation is “on the way”, or “We’ll get you that as soon as possible”.
Asked on September 28, 2011 under Estate Planning, Tennessee
Answers:
M.T.G., Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
I think that it may be time for you and your fellow trust beneficiaries to seek help from an outside attorney to inquire on your behalf. You seem to be - a you have described yourself - a direct beneficiary of the trust ad not what is known as a discretionary beneficiary. So the trustee has a fiduciary duty to you that can not be ignored. So I think that they need to be prompted, so to speak, by an attorney on your behalf. Given that the trustee is not a person but rather an entity I would also keep an eye on things through some one else. You could get lost in the shuffle of other work and projects. Good luck to you.
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