THE NIGHTMARE OF THE MISSING TRUST: HOW WE HELP UNLOCK FAMILY MONEY FOR EXECUTORS

After your parent passed, you diligently searched through years of paperwork in filing cabinets, safety deposit boxes and desk drawers. You found the account statements clearly showing a $100,000 CD titled in the name of the ‘Smith Family Living Trust.’  The only thing missing? The Trust document itself.

You thought, “No problem, I’ve been appointed as the Executor!” But when you contacted the bank, they gave you the cold, hard reality – They won’t distribute the funds without the physical Trust document. This is a frustrating paradox: The money is there, but since no one has the Trust document, no one knows who has the power to distribute the funds (aka, the “Trustee”), nor who the money should go to. The bank’s legal department prohibits them from acting without a physical copy of the Trust document Your official Executor papers allow you to act for the Estate), not anything outside of the Estate. And anything held by a Trust is outside of an Estate. but this $100,000 is stuck in the separate Trust box.

Stop Fighting the Bank and Contact Schwartz Ettenger Instead

Dealing with an uncooperative bank during this emotional time is exhausting. Don’t waste weeks arguing with customer service representatives.

The truth is that the bank won’t change its mind without official legal pressure. This is where we step into either negotiate with the bank’s legal department or bring a Court action seeking Court intervention.

A $100,000 account should not remain locked forever just because a piece of paper is missing. We know exactly how to handle missing Trust situations—it’s a niche problem we solve regularly.

Let us deal with the banking bureaucracy so you can move forward.

Pro Tip: Make sure someone (your heirs, nominated fiduciaries or best of all, your lawyer) has access to all of your estate planning documents, or knows how to obtain them.

Pro Tip for Adult Children: Have the difficult conversation with your parents. They are under no obligation to inform you what is set forth in their Trusts, Last Will and Testaments, Powers of Attorney and Health Care Proxies, but they should tell you where they are located and how to obtain them.