Does anyone have any experience with trusts and inheritance of a house in the US?

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I'm starting to worry a bit that my uncle / my moms younger brother might be trying to screw her out of an inheritance. So I'm wondering if anyone here might have some experience with trusts and the inheritance of a house in the US.

I'll try to keep this explanation as short as possible:

My mother's older brother / my uncle G passed away about six months ago. He had no wife or children, so he left a trust that included a house on 10 acres of land (that my mom thinks is worth about $350,000) as well as some stocks, etc. that are worth quite a bit. And in the trust, he also stated that he wanted his housekeeper to get $100,000 (apparently, they were close and she had helped him quite a bit while he was alone and dying of cancer).

My mom's younger brother (Uncle B) is refusing to honor his dead brother's wishes and is being very greedy and said that the housekeeper will never get that money and that it should go to his (quote) "great great grand kids" instead, and so he's refusing to sell the house or liquidate any of his dead brother's money/assets so that the housekeeper cannot get her $100,000. He said he'd rather wait and sell the house in 20 or 30 years once the housekeeper has passed away (she's 70). But the thing is, he and my mother will also have passed away by then! They're also both in their 70s!

So I only have the little information to go on, that my mother has given me via texts, but apparently both her and her younger brother's names are on the trust. I asked her today whose name is going to be put on the deed to the house, but she didn't answer. All she said was that her name and her brother's name are on the trust. But a trust isn't a deed to a house, right? Wouldn't the deed to the house actually need to be transferred into someone's name, or can a deed be put in the name of a trust?

It sounds to me like my mom's brother is basically trying to screw my mother (and me and my sister) out of my mom's share of an inheritance and using not wanting to give the housekeeper that money as a means to also basically justify screwing my mom out of the sale of the house/land and stocks. Because in 20-30 years, the house will be worth nothing and will need demolished since it won't be taken care of, and neither my sister or I are in touch with our cousins. So if my uncle dies and they get the house, I don't think they're going to consider looking me and my sister up, whom they haven't seen or spoken to in decades, to give us our share of the sale of the house and land, etc. My mom said she plans to outlive her brother, but she's older than he is and I feel like she's being a bit irrational or not thinking this through very well.

So I'm curious if anyone has any input or thoughts on this and how it works when someone dies and leaves a trust to his brother and sister? Would the deed to the house be put in the name of the trust, then, or would the deed have to be put in someone's actual name, or?

It's not that I'm worried about ME getting money from the house. It's just that I don't want my uncle to screw my mother out of an inheritance. Being that he's willing to screw a 70-year old housekeeper out of a $100,000 inheritance, I guess I just wouldn't really put it past him to screw anyone over that he can.

Thanks... and I'm sorry for the long explanation.

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Normally a property doesn't stay in the deceased's name for long. If Uncle G created a trust then the trust would end up as the name on the deed. That may or may not have happened yet, if the death was only a few months ago. There is probably also a will that details his wishes.

If mom and her brother are the only trustees and they can't agree on anything, that's a problem. Unless the rules set out in the trust specify otherwise, the trustees have to have unanimous agreement on selling the house, etc.

You state that the trust paperwork indicates that the housekeeper is to receive a sum of cash. That's part of the legal paperwork AFAIK, so it isn't optional no matter how much Uncle B hates it. The housekeeper (and by extension, her heirs) are entitled to the money one way or another.

Your mother will likely need to find an estate attorney to help sort this out over the long haul. But the transfer of deed should be straightforward. Has she checked with the county to see who is currently listed as the owner?

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Thank you so much for your input!

Okay, so the deed can be put into the name of a trust. I assume that's probably what will happen then. I told my mom to make sure that her name is also on the deed, whether that be as part of the trust or her name in general (along with her brother's).

I was curious about that -- if it's even legal for my uncle to try to keep the housekeeper from getting that money/inheritance -- and had said to my mother that I hope he doesn't find himself in court over it. I think she feels pressured to go along with what her brother wants instead of sticking up for herself and what she wants and isn't thinking this through very well. The fact that her own boyfriend just passed away a few weeks ago probably doesn't help, since she's been a bit of a mess because of it.

Thank you again for your input! I just really don't want my mom to be taken advantage of by her brother, because it sounds like he's using his greed (about the housekeeper) to also keep my mother from getting her share of the estate.

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Just trying to clarify a few things here...

You can’t leave a trust... you can create one in favour of people, set it’s objectives and appoint the first trustees in your will.

It does not make sense to me to create a trust, put all the assets into it and direct the trustees to pay it back out to the housekeeper...

I’m not a lawyer, I was a public accountant and from my experience of this stuff, my expectation would be that there is a will and that will makes certain bequeaths to individuals including the housekeeper and goes on to direct that the remainder of the estate is to be placed in a trust in favour of named individuals.

Unless the will is challenged and overturned in court there is no way to disinherited the housekeeper and should she died before the disbursement the 100k will form part of her estate.

Is this younger brother the executor of the will? Is that why he is refusing to complete the procedures? Executors of a will who fail to carry out their duties with due care and in a timely manner can find themselves personally liable for the consequences.

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I would say the first step is to ensure the house is registered under the trust, that way it's somewhat protected. As a co-trustee, your uncle can be difficult but he can't make unilateral decisions unless your mother lets him. It's okay for her to take some time, she's dealing with a lot of grief right now!

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Thank you!

Unfortunately, I only have the very little amount of information that my mom has been giving me (via texts). So I have no idea if her brother is the executor of the will. All I know is that there is a trust with her and her brother's name on it and that he said he wants to wait until after the housekeeper dies to sell the house/land and the stocks, etc. so that the housekeeper can't get her $100,000. Apparently, he said "That money will go to my great, great grandkids before she (the housekeeper) ever sees it!" (My uncle is obviously being very greedy and is making this all about what HE wants rather than what his dead brother wanted).

So it's difficult because part of me feels like I shouldn't be sticking my nose in it, but the other part of me is on high-alert and worried that my mom's being screwed out of an inheritance. Not to mention that I just think it's really crappy for my uncle to try to not give the housekeeper that money, which would probably be a lot of money for her. And now I'm also worried that my mother could also potentially get in trouble if the housekeeper doesn't get her inheritance. I feel like my mom just isn't really thinking any of this through very well.

Curiously, does anyone know if someone would have to hire a lawyer and take someone to court if they know they're being screwed out of an inheritance? I'm wondering if my uncle is just assuming that she (the housekeeper) would never do that and if that's why he feels he can get away with it.

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P.S. I just asked my mom in a text who the executor of the will is. She hasn't responded yet (and no idea if she will). I'm not even sure if I should be sticking my nose in any of this, but at the same time, I feel like I need to be. I guess my name and my sister's names are on the trust as well (and probably also my Uncle B's two kids).

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I spent over eight years working as an insolvency practitioner, in other words cleaning up people's financial messes and investigating fraud. And in this respect there are a couple of things to keep in mind:

- What people can do, say they will do and actually do are very different things. And unless your uncle actually does something then it is all just hot air.

- Nobody gets to choose which laws they are going to abide by and which they are going to ignore. The laws of probate and so on have clauses in them to ensure that your uncle can't do what he thinks he can. You can't transfer property, create a trust, etc. of a dead person without probate and anyone how would facilitate it would be leaving themselves open to serious consequences.

- It is impossible to disinherit the housekeeper without challenging the will in court. If the housekeeper dies then the inheritance will go to her estate and the beneficiaries of her will.

- If your uncle was the sole executor of the will, then at best he might manage to delay things for a while, but that is as far as he could go. And whether a lawyer would facilitate him is doubtful and they would be leaving themselves as well as him open to legal action.

- Once submitted to probate, wills become public documents and that is one of the best safe guards to ensure that they are executed correctly, since any relative wondering about it can consult the records.

The bottom line is that unless people are willing to commit fraud for your uncle and of course he is as well, this is just not going to happen.

Unfortunately wills and inheritance bring out the worst in people and they say a lot of stuff that amounts to nothing more than hot air. At the end of the day there is no need to react unless he actually tries to put some of that hot air into action.

For now, I think the thing you need to concentrate on is collecting the actual facts.

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Thank you so much for all your help and advice!

My uncle is "not the brightest crayon in the box" and is indeed the type to be full of hot air and delusions (e.g. he's a Trump supporter and is still in denial that Trump lost the election). My mom replied to my text and I guess he is the executor of the will. Both he and my mother's names are on the trust, though. But he is the sole executor of the will. He seems to think that this means that he gets to pick and choose what he wants to honor in the will, but obviously it doesn't.

Apparently, he's not also not aware that the $100,000 would go to the housekeeper's estate or descendants anyways. So I should probably point that out to my mom, because my uncle seems to think that if the house and stocks aren't sold until after the housekeeper dies that that will somehow mean that she will never get the money.

I think you're sooo right that wills and inheritances can bring out the worst in people. That's obviously what's happening with my uncle. And the fact that he's willing to try to screw a 70-year old housekeeper out of $100,000 tells me that he probably would also screw my mom out of her own inheritance if he had the chance. Clearly, he needs to understand the laws and how things work because as it is right now, he just seems to be blinded by his own greed.

Thank you again for all of your help!

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If he is the executor of the will and he fails to execute it then he personally will be liable to anyone who does not get their inheritance and I'd expect his lawyer would be pointing this out to him.

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If the house/property is part of a (revocable) trust, the trust will be named on the deed as the property holder. Were your mother and her younger brother named as beneficiaries of the trust or as successor co-trustees? If they are trustees, then they are now the "managers" of the trust and can buy/sell/modify, etc. the assets in the trust. If they are named beneficiaries, and the original trustee (grantor) passes, the trust is now considered irrrevocable (not-changeable) and the assets will be distributed according to your uncles wishes within a limited amount of time. Assets not in the trust will be distributed according to his WILL. All of this is state and document dependent.

I am not a lawyer nor do I play one on TV. Get a copy of the trust document, find the name of the attorney who established the trust, or find an attorney that specializes in estates so you/your mom/uncle can have a fuller understanding of what is legal/not legal/a bad idea. Do it immediately before costly mistakes are made (the tax man cometh quickly in the US).

Good luck. Especially hard to figure it out from afar.