Perry, GA Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

I do not see where probate is necessary, as there do not seem to be any assets to distribute and no large liabilities to take care of. That, however, is based strictly on what you write there could be other assets or liabilities that change this analysis. The mother may well have claims against the relatives who locked her out of the mobile home. Those, however, would not be part of a probate and should be pursued direction by the mother.

You can incorporate a trust for your grandchildren in your Will. You can state who will be the trustee or co-trustees. You can appoint people as a trust protector or to a trust advisory committee. You can write a letter to the trustee or co-trustees expressing your intent that the trustee or co-trustees consult with certain professionals or even continue to have the funds managed by a certain professional. Your estate planning attorney can help you do this right.  

Your intuition is correct: it is neither normal nor common for an investment advisor to seek to become the Executor or a trustee under a client's estate plan, unless that client is also a family member of the investment advisor. Your wife's parents are best advised to seek a different investment advisor. They may also want to seek a different attorney, if their estate planning attorney isn't telling them that this is a red flag. In my experience, most investment advisors are not even ALLOWED by their broker-dealers to serve in fiduciary roles for clients. Even attorneys, who are allowed to do so under the state Bar's ethics rules, can only do so under very limited circumstances, and cannot suggest to the client that the client choose the attorney (the client has to come up with that request on his or her own, and then the attorney must fully explain potential conflicts of interest that the attorney's service will create, along with the other options for someone who could serve in that role instead of the attorney. Best wishes to you, your wife, and her parents. I hope they will move away from that advisor.