Contesting A Living Trust: Is It Possible?Many people are well aware that contesting a will can be a very lengthy and expensive process. When you contest a will, you only have to prove that on the day the will was signed that the person was not fit to understand the process. When contesting a living trust, it is much more complicated. This makes it much more difficult to contest a living trust. So the short answer is that yes it is possible to contest a living trust. However, in order to really have a case to contest the living trust, you must be able to show that each time a transaction took place that the grantor was not of sound mind and was not capable of understanding the process. This is very hard to prove, especially if the grantor was perfectly sane and capable when the trust was organized, and appointed a different person to act as the trustee and follow their wishes. While it is easier to contest a living trust if the grantor acts as their own trustee up until their death, it is not necessarily a simple process even then. Each transaction that occurs must be linked to a specific date, and each date must have it proven that the grantor was incapable of making the decision. This is an almost impossible task for most people to undertake. An example would be, if the grantors house was transferred to a living trust. The house is now an asset of the trust, however each month when the mortgage payment is due, it would be a separate transaction that would require proof that the grantor was incapable of handling their affairs at that time. If the trustee is not the grantor then it becomes even harder to prove. As you can see the matter of contesting a living trust can be very complicated and complex at best. Most of the time when a living trust is contested the party whom is contesting will lose. It is very difficult to prove to the standard required that the party was incompetent on each occasion when a transaction took place. This is not to say that it is impossible, there are some occurrences of a living trust being successfully contested, however they are very rare, as well as expensive. If you are considering a living trust for your estate, you may be concerned that someone could contest. This is a valid concern; you do not want your entire estate chewed up in legal fees to protect it. One way to ensure that contesting your living trust is not successful is to appoint someone else as either a co-trustee, or have someone else act as trustee entirely. This helps avoid the possibility of ever proving that you were incapable while your living trust was being followed. While creating your living trust can be a very stressful process, with proper protection you can really help ensure that it is not able to be contested successfully. Adequate steps to protect your assets will ensure that contesting a living trust is unsuccessful. While anyone can contest a living trust, being successful is a whole different matter. The longer your trust is in action before your death, the less likely contesting will be successful as well. |