Bruni, TX Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

If the land is in a trust, you do not own it:  the trust does.  The trustee decides whether to sell the land.  The beneficiaries (apparently your husband and his two siblings) do not. If a trustee is not putting the interests of the beneficiaries first but is putting his own interests first, the beneficiaries can sue to have him removed.  But whether selling or not selling the land is putting the beneficiaries first is a big question.  You may want to take a copy of the trust agreement to a lawyer who does fiduciary litigation and discuss the specific facts.  

The attorney for the estate should tell you what he expects you to do. In Missouri, the personal representative receives a commission based on the value of the property that is actually part of the probate estate. This would only include real property if it was sold. The probate estate normally (in Missouri) does not include any property that the decedent owned jointly with another person (except tenancy in common) and will not include property in trust or life insurance proceeds payable to a named beneficiary (other than the personal representative or the estate). The commission scale is as follows: 5% on the first $5,000 4% on the next $20,000 3% on the next $75,000 2.75% on the next $600,000 2% on everything over $1,000,000.

It depends on what you want to accomplish and the complexity of your estate. For most couples, a will does the trick. If you have a more complicated estate, or you have issues of capacity, a trust may be preferable.