You want your heirs and trust beneficiaries to have the easiest time accessing their funds after you pass. Therefore, you want to appoint a trustee who will follow your instructions. But what if your beneficiaries want to remove the trustee?
Can they do that? In some cases, they can. However, they have to have good reasons to ask that the trustee be removed. Read on for some common valid reasons to petition the court to remove a trustee.
The trustee is hostile to the beneficiaries
Ideally, you will not appoint anyone who has a disagreeable relationship with your beneficiaries. But life takes some curious turns, and alliances can change. If your beneficiaries can show where the trustee is openly hostile or non-communicative with them, the trustee might be removed.
The trustee won’t comply with the terms of the trust
Maybe your terms indicate quarterly dispersals of funds and they want to do it semi-annually for convenience sake. They are in violation of the trust and subject to removal.
There is mismanagement of the trust’s assets
If the trustee fails to uphold their fiduciary duties and/or mismanages the assets of the trust, that is negligence. As such, the court can remove them.
There is self-dealing
Many trustees serve without compensation, but reasonable fees may be charged for their fiduciary services. But any trustee who feathers their own or others’ nests at the expense of the beneficiaries can be removed from their duties.
These are just some of the reasons why your heir might want to petition the court to remove the trustee from managing the trust account. Learning more about the process of removing a trustee can help you decide your course of action. It can also reassure you about the choices you’re making for the future.
