Trustees ignoring beneficiary - what can be done?

[MalinandGo]

A young adult family member has a trust, with two trustees. One a distant family member he doesn’t really know and one a solicitor who is paid for the role.

The trust has been paying him a living allowance during university. His living costs went up a year ago and he has been asking for an uplift as a result but has had no response. He’s now starting a PhD and would like to buy a flat with his trust money; he has emailed them to ask about budget etc and got no response. This is all getting quite urgent as he is moving in the autumn and is in debt from making up the shortfall over the last year.

They will only deal with him, not any other relatives, as he is over 18. He is autistic and finds phone calls very difficult, and was upset recently when he called and thought the receptionist was laughing at him, so now won’t even try.

We’d like to give him the wording for a stiff email referring to their duties to him but aren’t sure where to start. Any advice on what we need to put in?

I think it will be more helpful to check what kind of trust this is. Removing trustees can be difficult especially if they won’t renounce. The law society has some guidance on trusts which be a place to start. https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/public/for-public-visitors/common-legal-issues/trusts. The beneficiary may be entitled to the trust accounts as trusts should be registered with HMRC Trust registration service.

We do know what sort of trust it is and have seen the accounts. We’ve also had specific legal advice on removing the trustees and the issue of forcible removal was key. To complicate things (and perhaps to explain both why we’ve already had legal involvement and also why the issue of the end of the trust may be complex) there are actually two trusts with different terms at play but the same trustees for both. That’s not relevant for this particular issue though!

Irrelevant.

If he's at uni, do they have a free Law Clinic who could help? Many do.

Then you will need legal representation if you intend to force their removal. Not sure how this thread can be of much help. Wishing you good luck with it all.

We don’t want to force their removal so I can see why you think this thread wouldn’t help.

Sorry if this has already been mentioned but surely a letter of consent or authorisation from the beneficiary could be used in this instance. My adult son has mental health issues which aren't severe enough for me to seek power of attorney, but I am able to deal with his doctor and the benefits agency, amongst others, on his behalf because he authorised me to do so. He simply wrote a letter. I can't remember if we had it witnessed.

OP you have not said what kind of trust this is although you keep pointing out that it is complicated. I’m sure if you have already had legal advice then you know that only courts can make the decision to remove trustees, I get that you don’t want to take this step as it is costly for you or the beneficiary but if the trustees are not engaging I do not see what else you can do hence the good luck.

The purpose of the thread was to get a pointer for where best to look for content for a stiff email to get things moving! That’s all. I have zero doubt the trustees will eventually engage but time is ticking, they are being pants, and I want to put a rocket up the solicitor trustee to pull his finger out. If it’s any guide to previous engagement they confirmed they would pay the uni fees a week before they were due and you can’t pull that stuff with housing, even rental.

I haven’t said what sort of trust it is because (a) no one has actually asked me to share that and (b) it’s irrelevant I think. And I never said at any point we were looking now to remove the trustees - that ship sailed years ago.

In any case we’ve now emailed the godfather who is a lawyer familiar with the whole situation and he is going to supply us with an email. I’m very grateful to all of you who offered support and advice on this thread though.

He knows broadly how much is in the trust. He’s seen the accounts but not for a couple of years.

We do know what sort of trust it is and have seen the accounts.

Has anyone seen them recently?

Is there any money left?

I think someone needs to see the proof.

Does the distant family member who is one of the trustees have a personal grudge about your young relative being a beneficiary of this trust? Was the money in the trust an inheritance from the young person's parents? Does the distant relative think that they should have been left the money? It sounds completely unprofessional from the solicitor and deliberately obstructive from the family member.

Good luck. This sounds incredibly frustrating. But I'm glad you have a 'tame' professional to help out.

Just on the point of them not speaking to someone other than him - it is entirely normal and reasonable for lots of people who find it difficult to communicate by phone to approach complex phone communication as follows:

Friend e.g. the lawyer/godfather you mentioned (A) , sitting next to the young person/trust beneficiary (B)

A makes the call
"hello my name is A and I have been asked to call you by B who is sitting next to me and wants me to speak on his behalf. I am going to pass the phone over to B now for you to do identity checks and verify that he wants you to procede with the rest of the conversation with me speaking for him."

B speaks only to go through appropriate security procedures to allow the conversation to continue.

Phone goes onto loudspeaker so that B can hear everything and A represents B's interests and does all the necessary questioning.

I know you have got help now with the email. But if you need further anonymous internet help with the trusts there is an active deaths/ probate forum on money saving expert where trusts frequently appear, I know the trusts are not necessary linked to inheritance but there do seem to be a lot more detailed legal advice on that forum with a few regular posters..

Thank you - that’s helpful to know. And they are inheritance trusts.

I wish we could take a rational route with someone to support him but sadly the trustee is very against anyone he perceives to be against him, which is just about everyone. If I could offer anyone any advice at all myself it would be to pick trustees verrrrrrry carefully.

I think the type of trust (interest in possession or discretionary) is very relevant here. If you want advice please state the facts.

An IIP trust is about income and a discretionary trust income and capital and has more than one potential beneficiary. Therefore the lack of action of a trustee is more problematic in one than it is in another. As are the sums involved - if it’s £500,000 and he’s not supposed to ever own anything due to vulnerabilities and issues managing money ‘buying him a flat’ might not be within the trustees powers.

But this approach of sending a strongly worded email is just utter nonsense. Take the trust deeds or copy will to a trust and estate lawyer with the last accounts and a copy of the letter of wishes if you have it, and get them to make demands. A proper trusts lawyer and not just one on the high street who does the odd will.

if the LoW is clear that this is for his life, then obstructive trustees can be encouraged to retire or face costs orders.

Stop messing around and get actual paid for legal advice. The idea that Google and chat gpt can replace specialist legal advice in this scenario is absolute balderdash.

Trusts also have to be registered and need to produce accounts, they also need to take investment advice.

An inactive trustee that is breaching their duties are very capable of being removed. Find out what they should have been doing from a trusts lawyer, ask them for evidence and go from there.

if one of the Trustees is a solicitor the they’re bound by the solicitors code of conduct and their firms Client care rules when it comes to dealing with matters. I’d contact the solicitor saying “I wrote to you on xxx, copy of letter attached. No response received and as no response has been forthcoming, need to make a complaint, please send me details of your complaints process”. Escalate it to the legal ombudsman or SRA if you don’t get any joy but that will probably sort it. It’s easier to put pressure on a professional trustee rather than a family member.

I genuinely don’t see why you need to be this rude, especially as the issue is now sorted and the lawyer involved (who is not a high street solicitor FWIW and knows the full history) entirely agrees that the right worded email should get things moving. We’ve had decent legal advice in the past too, as I’ve said. We are 15 years into this, with legal bills to show for it. I was never intending to use AI for anything other than my initial experiment (which did actually suggest what turned out to very relevant legal duties).

@TheOnlyAletheia we will definitely be including a request for the firm’s complaints policy.

Is this rude? People are talking nonsense and giving you really poor advice and I’ve taken time out of my day to say what actually needs to be done to actually get somewhere. This is generosity.

There are no mechanisms for complaints for service with the SRA and if it’s the type of trust I mentioned above, the beneficiary has no actual quantifiable entitlement and therefore he needs actual proper advice from someone acting in his best interests, not people saying write an email.