Q: Can diclaiming my interest in a trust after being served a lawsuit but, before any settlement or judgement be fraud
Plaintiff offer is they want a portion of the trust that I will receive after the owner passes. My attorney that over sees my half in trust can be available to answer any questions you may have about type of trust, how it is written etc. She stated that she thinks I can disclaim because as it stands now a claim has been made but im not bound by agreement or court order to pay anything, the purpose would not be trickery - the goal would be to motivate them to negotiate in real (reasonable) money now not trust money later. I just need to know what type of lawyer can tell me 100% that it’s not fraudulent or criminal because I expect them to try to get me arrested or accused of fraud or something as retaliation.
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A:
There are a lot of missing facts here making it impossible to answer your question. Is the trust revocable or irrevocable? Is your interest vested or unvested? Who is the trustee now? Who will be the trustee when the grantor dies? What is your relationship to the trustee? Are distributions fully discretionary or subject to an objective standard or something else? Is the distribution standard liberal or conservative? Does the grantor still have capacity?
The purpose of the foregoing questions is not to prompt you to post another question with the foregoing questions answered. There are others. My point is that you need to have an attorney review the trust and advise you. It sounds like you have already received legal advise and you want a second opinion. For the second opinion, probably the best choice would be a bankruptcy or creditor's rights attorney. Estate planning attorneys understand these things pretty well, but usually they don't actual litigate the cases that sometimes arise. You need a litigation (bankruptcy or creditors rights) attorney,
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