Q: My mother recently passed, her assets were put in a trust and my sister was made trustee. So far, she has not provided
the beneficiaries (5 siblings including the trustee) with details of the trust nor an accounting of the trust. My understanding from reading FL statutes is that she has 60 days to provide a copy of the trust and an accounting of the trust's assets and liabilities to the beneficiaries. She has told each sibling a little about the trust, not the same things, and has not responded to verbal requests for a copy of the trust. Do the beneficiaries have to wait for the 60 days the statutes outlines to get a copy and an accounting?
A:
The reason why Florida law allows Trustees at least 60 days to notify beneficiaries is to allow the Trustee sufficient time to locate and examine the decedent's Last Will, search for and gather the decedent's personal property, get copies of deeds to real property, inventory all of the property and begin the arduous task of executing their important duties.
Depending on the size of the Estate the Trustee might have to search for and hire an experienced accountant and perhaps an experienced lawyer to help carry out their duties.
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