Can a Beneficiary Sue a Trustee?

When someone passes away, they may leave a trust or will. A trustee then steps in to distribute the assets according to the deceased's instructions. This person is responsible for ensuring the beneficiaries — the intended recipients of the estate — receive their inheritance, which could include businesses, vehicles, homes, or money, either in lump sums or periodic payments.

Beneficiaries may wonder — can you sue a trustee? Especially if they feel the estate isn't being handled correctly. It is essential to know that trustees are legally bound to act in the beneficiaries' best interest and can be held accountable through legal action if they fail to do so.

The trustee must be in charge of the administration process. This is a complicated legal process that entails things from taking inventory of the remaining property to settling any debts to distributing inheritance to beneficiaries. No court, including the probate court, supervises trust administration, although if there are discrepancies, the courts can become involved. Trustees have a fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of the beneficiaries, and if they fail to do so, the beneficiaries have rights.

As a beneficiary, you should be dealing exclusively or, at the very least, almost entirely with the trustee as the administration process goes along. Therefore, you should get to know what a breach of duty is so that you can identify it if it happens and make sure that the living trust is enforced.

As the beneficiary, you can sue a trustee if they violate your rights or breach their duty. For example:

Remember that trustees are fiduciaries; they are never to favor one beneficiary over another. They have to remain loyal and objective, prioritizing the interests of the beneficiaries over their own. They must also regularly provide trust beneficiaries with any pertinent information, such as how much the trust is worth, what assets are going into the trust, and what assets are leaving the trust. They have to communicate regularly and give periodic updates on the accounting for the trust. 

There are several ways in which a trustee can breach these roles and leave themselves susceptible to being sued. When you sue a trustee, you can do so with the goal of suspending them so they can no longer make decisions about the trust while an investigation for criminal charges is ongoing. You can also choose to request that they be removed entirely and the assets distributed in accordance with the trust immediately. Alternatively, you can request the probate court to replace the trustee with someone else.

In any of these cases, you will have to prove the trustee favored one beneficiary over another, had no loyalty to the trust, was acting in their personal interests rather than those of the beneficiaries, committed a breach of fiduciary duties, failed to communicate, or in some other way violated the responsibilities entrusted to them.

Pursuing criminal charges against a trustee can happen in specific cases when they commit a severe fiduciary crime, such as taking advantage of their position to funnel assets into their personal accounts rather than those of the beneficiaries. 

To make a case and take the trustee to court, you need to prove they did something wrong, and this usually entails suing a trustee for breach of fiduciary duty. This is a legal term that means the trustee was not transparent in handling the finances and managing the estate assets.

The law gives trustees a lot of responsibilities, but beneficiaries can claim with the help of an attorney that the trustee refused to disperse money or assets under the terms of the estate, put their interests ahead of a beneficiary, mishandled the estate money, or refused to give information about what was going on.

There are specific time frames beneficiaries need to meet to sue the trustee. Within 60 days of a trustee taking full responsibility for the trust, they have to give notice to any qualified beneficiaries who have accepted that responsibility. They also have to provide the full name and the address of the trustee to each beneficiary for proper communication thereafter. Within 60 days of a trustee's knowledge of an irrevocable trust, they must give notice of the settlor's identity and gain rights to accounting.

Therefore, a beneficiary cannot sue a trustee right away; they have to give them time to fulfill their responsibilities. Only after evidence of a breach or a trustee failing to follow the trust, such as understanding the assets, managing them, getting death certificates, closing accounts, and so forth, can a beneficiary pursue trust litigation to separate the current trustee from the trust property. 

There are many examples of situations where families decide to use their legal rights to sue the trustee or pursue criminal charges.

Overall, for a beneficiary to sue a trustee, there has to be serious criminal activity or breach of duty. There are many rights given to beneficiaries, but each beneficiary is not necessarily entitled to have the same active role when it comes to every single decision about the trust. Understanding these roles and responsibilities when it comes to trust property or asset management can help you as a beneficiary determine when there’s a breach. If you need more legal information, visit our legal resource platform, Lawrina.