My sister suffered a brain injury eight years ago. Her trust is currently in probate court. She has a trustee that hasn't performed all of h...

Question

My sister suffered a brain injury eight years ago. Her trust is currently in probate court. She has a trustee that hasn't performed all of his duties as he should have until we attempted to get him removed. Our lawyer dropped the case saying that there was no case law she could use to have him removed and since he was now performing his duties the judge was likely to choose not to remove him. However even though he is doing some of his duties (duties we have been asking him to do for years) he is still not communicating as he should and he is making decisions without consulting the beneficiary of the trust and the Guardian. Also he signed a contract stating that if the guardian signed him in as trustee, he would petition the court within one year to request that the guardian become trustee. He has refused to do so. Is there anything the beneficiary can do to have him removed by using the contract he breached? Is there anything else that can be done to remove him from the position?

Thanks

Answer

When the trustee is not taking care of business, your only remedy is to go to probate court for removal of the trustee. It sounds like the lawyer thought your objections were either frivolous or not serious enough to merit removal. Consult another experienced probate lawyer for an opinion.