Grieving the loss of a loved one can be an emotional time for the family. Taking on the responsibility of sorting out your family member’s estate adds a layer of stress to an already emotionally difficult and complex time.
If your loved one’s estate includes large sums of money, the possibility of individuals acting rashly, selfishly, or even maliciously increases. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for familial arguments about inheritance and the allocation of assets to turn into legal disputes. We have a team of experts at ACW Professional Law Corp ready to defend and protect your rights and responsibilities following your loved one’s passing. We advocate for our clients with fierce and compassionate professionalism.
Whether you are a trustee wrongfully accused of mismanagement of the estate or a beneficiary seeking his rightful inheritance from a malicious trustee, we represent both trustees and beneficiaries when disputes arise.
Fiduciary Abuse
Fiduciary Abuse is when a trustee or other fiduciary agent uses his or her power to personally and financially benefit from the estate. Trustees have great power over beneficiaries because they completely control the estate and make decisions about how to allocate assets.
Fiduciary abuse is illegal. But, if beneficiaries do not seek legal help to protect their rights, fiduciary abuse may continue and beneficiaries may never receive their inheritance. There is little that can be done to make it right without legal intervention.
Whether the trustee’s mismanagement is due to negligence, incompetence, or corruption, our team represents beneficiaries whose rights have been infringed. We are highly skilled, specialized trust attorneys with 25 years of litigation experience on these types of cases. We will meet with you, carefully review every detail of your case, and mount an aggressive defense to ensure the property and/or assets your loved one designated for you will pass to you as intended.
Legal proceedings are costly. If you are the beneficiary of a large sum of money being wrongfully held by a trustee, our team will review your case closely. In some instances, we are able to work out a payment plan that will allow us to begin legal work for your case without upfront payment. We understand the predicament of affording the strong legal team needed to secure the funds that are rightfully yours.
A few examples of fiduciary abuse and why it is critically important to seek legal help:
- A middle-aged couple with three kids is killed in a car crash. They have a trust and a will. The uncle assigned to manage the trust and serve as executor of the estate until the kids become of age is too ill to fulfill his duties. The secondary trustee is another uncle with a gambling addiction that was unknown to the parents. This uncle begins to use the assets from the trust to fund his gambling addiction.
- A father with two children remarries. The father dies, and years pass. When the children become adults, they find their rights to the estate property have been restricted by their step-mother and her new partner.
Trust Litigation
Trustees have a fiduciary duty to faithfully steward the assets in a trust. They have great power to make decisions about how to spend, invest, and distribute the assets. It is often the case that large sums of money are in their hands.
Our team has handled cases where a trustee is accused of mismanaging trust funds when he or she is simply complying with the expressed wishes of the deceased as outlined in the trust. The beneficiaries simply want the terms to be different. Perhaps the beneficiaries want the funds sooner, wish to have full ownership of the property, or do not want to split assets with a step-sibling. In other cases, the trustee is honestly trying to abide by all the terms of the trust but may be experiencing difficulty with some components of the trust.
Because trustees can be held personally liable for their management of the trust, it is critical that an accused trustee works with a highly-skilled trust litigation specialist to mount an aggressive and effective defense. At ACW Professional Law Corp, we are experts in trust litigation.
In addition to our services in fiduciary & trust litigation, we also represent clients for:
- Probate litigation
- Probate fraud
- Probate appeals
- Breach of fiduciary duty or fiduciary misconduct
- Removal of trustees
- Removal of executors
- Fee disputes
- Guardianship disputes
- Elder abuse
- Will contests
At ACW Professional Law Corp, we understand you have spent years growing your family, home, and assets. The importance of protecting your life’s work cannot be overstated. Whether you are in need of a strong estate plan, legal counsel for how to administer a trust, an aggressive defense to ward off an accusation, or help to secure your rightful inheritance, we are here to help.
Call ACW Professional Law Corp today. (562) 472-0393 or click here to schedule an appointment.