If your loved one has died and you expected to receive an inheritance, but that didn’t happen, it can be very upsetting. The good news is, you may have a legal right to contest the estate proceedings and try to convince the court you should inherit.
The key question that determines whether that is possible or not is whether you have a vested right. Vested rights mean you have an actual legal right that is enforceable, not just an expectation of an inheritance.
Albertson & Davidson, LLP can help you to fight for an inheritance when you have a vested right in a trust or an estate. Our Los Angeles probate litigation attorneys will work with you to put together the most compelling legal arguments possible in these situations with the goal of maximizing your chances of getting the money promised to you.
To find out more about how we can help, give us a call or contact us online today.
What Is a Vested Right in a Trust or an Estate?
A vested right means that you have a legal, enforceable right or claim that the court will enforce. The specifics of when you have a vested right can vary depending on the context. For example:
- You have a vested right created by a will if the creator named you a beneficiary and has died. Until the will’s creator dies, you do not have a vested right in any inheritance left to you in the document. If you are named as a beneficiary, you have an expectancy that you will inherit. However, since the will can be rewritten or changed, you don’t have a vested interest yet.
- If you are named as a beneficiary in a living trust and given the right to benefit from trust distributions, you have a vested interest, and your rights are enforceable. The trust could be amended, but unless or until that happens, you still have vested rights. After the trust creator dies, the trust becomes irrevocable. While you don’t always receive a distribution of remaining assets, depending on the terms of the trust, you still have a vested interest in the trust that you could go to court to enforce.
All of this may sound complicated, but the bottom line is that your rights vest at different times, but once they do, then the court protects those rights. If you don’t receive the promised money or property once your rights have vested, you can pursue legal action to get it.
When Do Rights Vest?
Your rights vest once you have a guaranteed claim on property, such as:
- When a trust is created that entitles you to distributions
- When someone who named you as a beneficiary in their will dies
- When you are gifted real property, subject to a life estate with remainder, and your name is on the deed to the property.
These are just some of the many examples in the context of estate planning when you acquire a vested right.
An experienced Los Angeles trust litigation attorney at Albertson & Davidson, LLP can help you determine if you have a vested right in an inheritance or a mere expectancy and can work with you to understand the implications of vesting when conflict over an inheritance arises.
Why Do Vested Rights Matter?
The key difference between vested rights and an expectancy is that, in the case of expectancy, you assume you will someday inherit a property and become an owner, but you don’t have any legal claims of ownership yet.
You typically cannot pursue litigation to claim an inheritance just because of an expectancy. If you were in a will, but that will was changed before the deceased person died, you don’t have a right to ask that the old will be enforced because you expected to inherit based on it.
In some cases, you could challenge the new will and argue, for example, that the deceased was unduly influenced to write you out of the will. However, these claims are harder to make successfully.
If you have a vested right, however, you can go to court to enforce that right. If your loved one died with a will that says you inherit the house and your siblings don’t want to give you the house, you can go to court and assert your claim to it.
How Can a Probate Litigation Lawyer Help You if You Have Vested Rights?
If you have vested rights in a trust or an estate, your attorney can help you to enforce and protect those rights if a conflict arises. This includes situations when:
- A will or trust is challenged
- An executor or trustee breaches their fiduciary duty and mismanages assets that should belong to you
These are just a few of several examples where you may need a lawyer to help you assert your claim to money or property that you have a vested right in. At Albertson & Davidson, LLP, our firm can help you to:
- Determine if you have vested rights in a trust or estate and/or if you have a strong claim to assert your rights.
- Gather evidence to prove you have vested rights
- Negotiate a settlement or litigate in court to enforce your rights
Our legal team will work with you from the time that you have a vested right in a trust or estate, up until the resolution of your claim, with the goal of fighting to get you the assets you deserve.
Contact an Estate Litigation Lawyer Today
If your rights are not being respected, then your inheritance is at risk and so is your loved one’s legacy.
Albertson & Davidson, LLP will help you fight to get the inheritance you deserve. Give us a call today to speak with an experienced Oceanside estate litigation lawyer who can help you with your claim.