Beneficiary Protection
By Daphne Reaume on October 23rd, 2013 in
“Sometimes people wonder if they’re a beneficiary under a trust and the trustee in control of the trust is not treating them fairly, is not giving them any accounting or financial records, or isn’t paying the amounts that the beneficiary is entitled to, what can they do?
Hi. I’m Kent Berk. I’m an attorney at the Scottsdale Arizona law firm of Berk Law Group, P.C. where we handle probate, trust, estate, and other types of matters here in Arizona.
Fortunately in Arizona, there are some things that a beneficiary can do if the trustee isn’t acting fairly. Arizona has adopted the Uniform Trust Act or the Arizona Trust Code and under that act or code, the beneficiaries have certain rights such as to an accounting that the trustee is suppose to give at a minimum an annual accounting to keep the beneficiaries informed of all the assets that are in the trust, what disbursements have been made from the trust, what revenue has been received on account of the trust assets and other information to allow the beneficiary to know and enforce their rights in connection with the trust.
If a trustee after requests still doesn’t deal fairly with a beneficiary, the beneficiary can file an action in the Arizona Probate Court that also has jurisdiction over trusts to get a court order to force the trustee to comply with his or her duties.
Another option a beneficiary has is to file a petition with the court to have the court order removing the trustee so that the court can appoint another trustee to step in and follow the trust and the trustee’s duties and also to provide the beneficiary the payments and the accounting or other information that the beneficiary might be entitled to.
Those are just some of the ways that a beneficiary can protect their rights under the Arizona Trust Code and Arizona Law. If you have any questions or you need any assistance in a trust or probate related matter, you can contact us through our website or just give us a call at anytime. Thank you.” – Kent Berk
