Q: Can a trustee manipulate beneficiaries of trust.before death because he didn't agree with wishes of incapacitated man?
.y friend lived with an Elderly gentleman for 2 yrs. Sheis a beneficiary in his trust. And the trustee and executor of estate took POA immediately. Came to house and took will and other stuff from house. Came back next day( mon)and bullied my friend. Telling her she was going to get a considerable amount from the will and that she needed to be out of house by Fri. She actually moved out on Sat. He had the man removed from life support that wknd. He then fired the attorney of deceased and hired new one. Found documents stating meeting on how to proceed with plan before something happens. While poa was in effect. Should a trustee be able to read trust and will before death? And if he didn't agree with terms of trust , can make moves to change. He had voiced his disapproval of relationship of deceased and my friend many times but couldn't change it. Is this common behavior of trustees and lawyers?Going against wishes of deceased
A:
I think it would be very unusual for the person named as trustee in a testamentary trust not to have read the Will before the testator dies. Usually, the testator would discuss his Will and wishes with his trustee and make sure that the trustee is willing to perform those duties and will honor the testator's wishes. There may very well be dialogue between the testator and trustee on changes to certain terms if there was a disagreement.
Typically, the executor of a Will and the trustee of a testamentary trust would have different lawyers than the testator. In the absence of a POA, only the client can fire his attorney. When a person dies, his attorney-client relationship with his lawyer ends, although the attorney-client privilege does not. Because the relationship ended upon the death of the client, "firing" is unnecessary and irrelevant. A POA also ends upon the death of the principle, so once the client died, the trustee had no authority to fire the attorney even if the trustee was also named as the decedent's attorney-in-fact in the POA.
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