Hi,
I'm on here asking some questions in regards to my Mothers estate. She died last year, in Perth, and her personal friend was names an the executor.
Mum was a trustee of a Testamentary Trust at the time for her granddaughter. The executor claims that she is the Trustee of this trust fund now. And has taken it upon themselves to claim that our Mother "stole" $25'000 from the estate, and is removing it from the estate to put back into the trust fund.
We were forced to send a letter from our lawyer, to her some months ago, because she was un-willing to give us any information. She assigned a Lawyer to right a reply back (from the Estate), only naming less than half of the questions we asked her.
Since that point, she has decided to keep this lawyer on as an estate lawyer, and is using him as a kind of "silent executor". We have recently asked for a Interim Payment. As we are short of money and most of my mothers assets are sold, and bills are paid. We decided to mail this request to Estate Lawyer, as she unluckily takes weeks to reply to us.
The Estate lawyer claimed that she is unwilling to pass money over to us, unless we agree to certain proviso's, which we disagree about.
We have also asked for a sit down with her to go over the issues that we have. She refuses to sit down with one of the Beneficiaries, and has asked for us to send our issues to the Estate Lawyer instead.
My questions are:
1. Is she allowed to decline an interim payment. Even though she has over $200'000 sitting in a bank account?
2. Is there a conflict of interest with her being the trustee of the Testamentary Trust and the Executor as well?
3. To what degree can she use a lawyer as an Executor. And is that lawyer able to comment in regards to the trust fund.
4. If she is called to a mediation, can she decline. If so under what grounds.
I have many other questions to ask, but these are likely my most important ones at this point.
I'm on here asking some questions in regards to my Mothers estate. She died last year, in Perth, and her personal friend was names an the executor.
Mum was a trustee of a Testamentary Trust at the time for her granddaughter. The executor claims that she is the Trustee of this trust fund now. And has taken it upon themselves to claim that our Mother "stole" $25'000 from the estate, and is removing it from the estate to put back into the trust fund.
We were forced to send a letter from our lawyer, to her some months ago, because she was un-willing to give us any information. She assigned a Lawyer to right a reply back (from the Estate), only naming less than half of the questions we asked her.
Since that point, she has decided to keep this lawyer on as an estate lawyer, and is using him as a kind of "silent executor". We have recently asked for a Interim Payment. As we are short of money and most of my mothers assets are sold, and bills are paid. We decided to mail this request to Estate Lawyer, as she unluckily takes weeks to reply to us.
The Estate lawyer claimed that she is unwilling to pass money over to us, unless we agree to certain proviso's, which we disagree about.
We have also asked for a sit down with her to go over the issues that we have. She refuses to sit down with one of the Beneficiaries, and has asked for us to send our issues to the Estate Lawyer instead.
My questions are:
1. Is she allowed to decline an interim payment. Even though she has over $200'000 sitting in a bank account?
2. Is there a conflict of interest with her being the trustee of the Testamentary Trust and the Executor as well?
3. To what degree can she use a lawyer as an Executor. And is that lawyer able to comment in regards to the trust fund.
4. If she is called to a mediation, can she decline. If so under what grounds.
I have many other questions to ask, but these are likely my most important ones at this point.
