The Issue
In a case out of the Fort Worth Court of Appeals, the issue was what power did the trustee have to distribute or not distribute assets of the trust.
The beneficiaries of the trust sued the trustee to require him to distribute the assets to them. The trustee, a bank, wanted to keep operating the trust and refused to distribute assets. The issue before the court was whether or not the trustee had the right to not distribute assets and keep the trust active which was lucrative to the bank.
The Ruling
The Court of Appeals ruled that the trustee did not have to distribute the asset. In addition, the court ruled that the trustee was entitled to its attorney’s fees.
Reason for Ruling
The court made an exhaustive review of the will and trust documents creating the trust and determined that the trustee had “sole discretion” to make distributions and the beneficiaries could not force the trustee to make distributions.
What you should know
You need to know that words have meaning. Using words from a document that you find somewhere can lead to problems that you did not want. When you want to make a will, you should contact a competent attorney to help you. We do not prepare wills. 02-20-00058-CV.
The court also discussed the use of precatory words in a will or trust.
