My husband and I (we are gay) live in the US, he came here as a runaway at age 14. He ran away because he was abused by his adoptive father. He had no contact with his family for the next 18-plus years. When his father died, his mother contacted him, and they began to rebuild a relationship. She came to the US 8 different times to visit over the next 25 years. I failed to mention that upon his father's death he left his mother a very, very wealthy woman. Over the years of visits and many phone conversations his mother assured my husband at her death, he and his younger brother would never want for anything. She told him that there was a trust that would handle everything. My husband received a phone call from his aunt in mid-May of last year (2021) who told him his mother had died several weeks before of lung cancer. Because of the pandemic, the funeral was virtual. My husband's mother had many personal assets as well as a bank account and most probably real estate holding. There was only my Husband and his younger brother, no other siblings. My husband received NOTHING! No one will give us any information about anything. We were told that there was most likely no will because there was a trust. My question isn't a trusted company responsible for treating the client's assets fairly? His brother knows we have no money to get a lawyer so he simply took everything, isn't this the same as stealing?
2 Answers
We can't give personal legal advice, but we can explain in general terms what the law is.
Apparently, the mother, brother and estate are outside the US, in country X. The disposition of the estate follows the laws of X, so you would need an attorney who can practice law in country X. The primary issue is, (1) how are estates probated in X and (2) what provisions, if any, did the deceased(s) make for the disposition of the estate (was there a will; a trust; did one or more parents die intestate?).
To simplify matters, we will assume that the laws of X are very similar to US law (which is not uniform – it is state-specific, but broadly similar). In the US, assets can be in a trust and can be directly transferred to a beneficiary. The disposition of the assets may be irrevocable, meaning that the person setting it up can decide who gets what, and then that cannot be changed.
It is thus possible that a child could be excluded as a beneficiary of a trust. E.g. the father could set up a trust with just the mother and brother as beneficiaries. The mother may simply have been misinformed as to what the trust document said. Or, there could have been illegal misappropriation of funds, even something as heinous as providing fraudulent documents purporting that an actually living beneficiary is dead. In other words, even though you can't afford a (foreign) attorney, that is realistically the only way to get a clear answer, if the brother is being uncooperative or untruthful.
A promise or representation that you will inherit something is not enforceable and no one has any legal obligation to leave anything to their children. While it may be immoral to do so, it isn't illegal.
It is appropriate to ask for the terms of the trust to see if there was indeed any provision for him in it (something that one often allows a surviving spouse to alter in a written instrument), if there was no provision for him in that document, it is the end of the story and there is nothing he can do about it.
My question isn't a trusted company responsible for treating the client's assets fairly? His brother knows we have no money to get a lawyer so he simply took everything, isn't this the same as stealing?
A trustee or trust company is responsible for honoring the trust terms. If the trust doesn't provide for him, nobody stole anything. If the trust did say he was supposed to receive something and the money in the trust went to someone who wasn't entitled to it, that is embezzlement. In all likelihood, however, the trust didn't leave anything to him and nothing was stolen.
