Habersham County, GA Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

I'm not exactly clear on what your question is, but it appears to relate to how you could step in as successor trustee of the trust. Unfortunately, there's no way to answer that question without a lot more information that can be provided in this kind of forum.   The first place to start when figuring out who becomes successor trustee of a trust when a serving trustee stops serving is the document that actually creates and contains the terms of the trust, plus any later documents that might have affected the trust's terms. Since the attorneys are trying to find your grandfather's Will, I assume that the Will is what created the trust. If that Will was filed for probate (in NY or elsewhere), then the probate court should be able to provide a copy, although if it was filed in 1972 it can take a while for them to pull up that record, so hopefully it will eventually turn up. If the Will was not filed for probate, then it may be that a separate document created the trust- in that case, you'd need to get a copy of that document (hopefully your father had one). If the trust was created in part by state law, however, you'll need to see what the applicable law said.   If whatever document controls the trust does not provide for a successor Trustee and does not address the question of how to select one if one is not named, then you will need to look to applicable state law (which may actually be NY law if the trust was created by a NY Will, even if the trustee and beneficiaries are all in GA and the trust was being managed here), and figure out how to make it happen. A court petition may be required, and you'll need to figure out what is required for that petition to be filed and granted.   If there are already attorneys involved (it sounds like there are), then you should let them figure things out. If at some point it looks like they aren't figuring it out, then you can hire a different attorney. I recommend hiring an attorney who works with fiduciary litigation as well as general trust and estate administration- that kind of attorney is most likely to have the experience and knowledge needed to help you figure out what needs to happen and get it done.   Best wishes to you.  

You can try to deposit the check into an account with your name on it, but if that doesn't work you may have to open the estate and deposit it into an estate account. You ideally also need to consult with a probate attorney to see what else you need to do: just because you are able to cash the check does not mean that it is yours to keep or that you don't have to deal with her estate.

They should see a lawyer. Estate planning should be done carefully by a person knowledgeable about the issues. An experienced lawyer can make the process easy and it is not necessarily expensive. In order to keep cost down, be prepared with information about your parents' assets who is in the family and should inherit something, and whether any specific gifts should be included (such as a Tiffany lamp to niece who collects them).