[WSBAPT] Lost Trust

[Douglas Bratt]

Paul:

This is, indeed, a potentially thorny issue.

I had a recent probate in which there were also extensive assets in a trust (including a multi-million dollar account with a stock broker company).  We needed to show the trust document to that company and to a local bank to get funds that were go to the sole heir/beneficiary transferred to him.  We could not find the trust instrument, or a copy of that document, in the Decedent’s files (He had said, before his death, “Everything is in the green file cabinet, next to my desk.  You will find it there.”  Of course, the green file cabinet yielded nothing.

And, the further problem was that the original trust was prepared at a solo practitioner’s law office in California, where the Decedent had previously lived.  That solo practitioner had retired about eight years ago, and he was nice enough to try to find a copy of the signed trust instrument in his stored files, but could not find it.

The trust was signed at a time well before there was any active scanning going on to preserve copies in that fashion.

What adds to the confusion is that the banks in which accounts are set up usually only want to see the face page of the Trust (to determine the actual name of the Trust), the page on which the Trustee and the Successor Trustee(s) are named, as well as the final signature page.  They apparently do not want to clutter their files with more than that.

The saving grace in my recent case was that a partner of mine (who does absolutely no estate planning work) had represented the Grantor in his divorce about 12 years ago.  We searched the scanned files he had accumulated related to the divorce, and lo and behold, there was a copy of the Trust instrument in the file, attached to an Affidavit prepared for a Mandatory Settlement Conference required by our Local Rules prior to being able to request a trial date.  That was a major relief.

So, Paul, we never had to go to the extent of going through some sort of proof exercise, in court, to have the sole heir/beneficiary declared to be the owner of the trust property, as well as the probate assets.

Think of the problems that would exist if there was more than one potential taker (under the Intestacy Statutes), including the proverbial black sheep who would have more than likely been written out of the trust as a beneficiary.  But, even assuming that the black sheep was written out of the will. Does that mean that he/she was also written out of the trust as a trust beneficiary?

It sounds like you have the ideal case to cut through the potential mess (just the sole heir) and have a judge enter the order that you are suggesting, but it is obviously simplified by the fact that there are no other potential takers.

Good luck.

Regards,

Doug Bratt




From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com [mailto:wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com] On Behalf Of Paul Grant
Sent: Monday, December 11, 2017 4:25 PM
To: Probate & Trust Listserv
Subject: [WSBAPT] Lost Trust

This is a new one for me....

financial institution has an account in the name of a trust.  Beneficiary dies and trust cannot be found.  She only has one brother who took the other assets.

Institution is demanding the trust document but no one can find it, a copy, and does not know who did the original - the original started back in the '80s.

Thoughts on proving a lost trust?

I am thinking of opening a probate and requesting a judge to sign off that the brother is the only heir and that the trust asset defaults to the estate....

Other thoughts?  Thanks!

Paul H. Grant - JD, LL.M

Planning with Purpose, Inc
Lynnwood, WA 98036
425-939-9948
www.planningwithpurposeinc.com<http://www.planningwithpurposeinc.com>

Estate Planning. Business Planning. Wealth Succession.

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