The trust is a financial asset that provides the holder with the right and duty to oversee a specific fund or portfolio of funds. The trustee can manage this fund on behalf of the beneficiary, who may or may not be the trustee.

So many times, things take a nosedive, and different parties involved in trust management raise questions. This is when trust beneficiaries think they are on the losing side, mainly because they are unaware of their rights and think they are at the mercy of their trustee. This is false, and you will know it when you consult one of the most qualified trust litigation attorneys.

Know Your Rights

A trustee is a person or group of people responsible for managing your assets and property after you die. They have the power to change, use and sell your assets and properties in any way they see fit. With that in mind, it is natural for beneficiaries to think they have no control over the situation. The truth is that it all depends on the type of trust, and beneficiaries do have a say in it.

In the case of a revocable trust, which means that the person who established it can amend or revoke its terms at any moment, the trust's beneficiaries, except for the settlor, have very little legal protection. Because the person who created the trust can alter its terms at any moment, that person can also modify the trust's beneficiaries at any time.

Most of the time, a trust remains revocable until the settlor passes away, turning it into an irrevocable trust. A trust is irreversible if it cannot be modified, save in extremely unusual circumstances or by court order. The platform barrattorneys can guide you about those specific situations and how your rights change accordingly.

With an irrevocable trust, the beneficiaries have the legal right to access information on the trust and monitor its administration to ensure it is carried out correctly. The breadth of those rights varies widely depending on who the recipient is. The term "current beneficiaries" refers to those eligible to receive distributions from the trust. Beneficiaries who are designated as "remainders" or "contingents" receive an interest in the trust once the interests of the "present beneficiaries" are exhausted.

Beneficiaries of irrevocable trusts also have the right to distributions, the right to information, and the right to accounting. They can consult a trust litigation attorney and remove the trustee; in some circumstances, they can even take the legal route to end the trust.