For my brothers 2 attorneys and Private Investigator- ( this adopted son has been stealing for decades-)
By using my mother’s funds from her
Trust. Is that not a breach of his fiduciary duty as well as misappropriation of funds, and Elder
Abuse? I have my own trustee and can
not access funds for an attorney ( my
trustee is aware she is being fired in the near future) What can I do to
protect my mother and advocate for
her ? And how can I pursue this and.
prove this unconscionable, immoral
and I believe illegal behavior?
Thank you so much!
Gigi
POA is a Fiduciary Responsibility, but a Trustee is just that, appointed to manage a trust and he can manage that trust however he decides to. The Trust is not for the benefit of the original grantor. It is simply a Trust.
You really need to advice of an elder law attorney or a trust and estate lawyer so that you can understand what has happened here, and what can be done about it. Almost certainly, with assets held in a trust, the answer is VERY LITTLE. As to other assets not in the Trust, and there may be some, they would be managed with POA, and POA DOES HAVE a fiduciary responsiblity. So if fraud is suspected with assets outside of a trust, something CAN be done. Take evidence of fraud to elder law attorney to find out how to proceed.
This is all assuming that your grandmother actually made your adopted sibling the Trustee of her Trust, removing herself as Trustee of her own Trust.
You are a bit confused by Trusts overall I do believe because you mention your "own" Trustee. If you have created a Trust and are the Trustee and the Grantor then YOU alone have power over that trust. If someone ELSE created a Trust FOR YOU and appointed a Trustee to manage that, then you do not have the power to manage the trust being managed for your benefit. That most often happens in the case of a mentally disabled person incapable of managing his or her own trust. I doubt that is the case for you.