Q: can a trustee of a supplemental needs trust ignore the terms for distribution to a charity & name himself a beneficiary?
the trustee of my brothers trust submitted a will supposedly written by my brother that named him as the trustee and stated that my brother wanted to leave half of everything to his church and the other half to the people closest and most helpful to him in the time leading up to his death. These people were to be chosen by the trustee. the trustee named only himself as one of those people. so half the money went to the church and the other half to the trustee. the same trustee was named in my mother's will to create this trust for my brother with money thAt was released to him from my mother's bank account. in my mother's will she laid out specific instructions for how to set up the trust and to donate any remaining money/assets when my brother died to the Phoenix Catholic Diocese Church to be distributed among handicapped programs in Phoenix. I thought this kind of trust cannot be changed. so can the trustee disregard my mother's directions and then name himself a beneficiary?
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A: Hire an AZ attorney to sue trustee for breach of fiduciary duty, conversion and an accounting. Time is critical as SOLs may already be busted.
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