Question:
My mother recently set up a revocable trust with an attorney in Texas. She is having questions about the attorney who drew it up. He does not seem to listen. Would I, her daughter, being one of her beneficiaries, be able to take a copy of her trust to another attorney to have them look it over?
Response:
Your question is a little unclear. Certainly, on your mother’s behalf you can take the trust to another attorney to review. You would be acting for her and she is free to switch attorneys and free to choose you to represent her. But you ask whether you can do so as a beneficiary of the trust rather than on behalf of your mother. Again, if you have a copy of the trust you can take it to anyone you choose to review it and advise you about it. However, if you do not have a copy of the trust, as a beneficiary you have no particular rights, not even the right to see the trust. This is because the trust is revocable. As a revocable trust, it and any property in it still belong to your mother. She can always change her mind. In legal speak, your rights as a beneficiary have not “vested.” They are a possibility and eventually they well vest if your mother doesn’t change the trust first, but right now you have no rights as beneficiary of the trust.
