Ask 2 Lawyers: What if a Trustee is Spending a Beneficiary’s Special Needs Trust Fund?

What can special-needs beneficiaries do if a trustee is spending their inheritance so I'm assuming when we're talking about special needs beneficiary we're talking about the creation of a special needs trust and a special needs trust is a very particular type of trust and it's a type of trust that allows people who are getting governmental assistance because of disabilities to continue to get that assistance and not have that destroyed by receiving an inheritance and instead the special needs trust puts limitations on what can be spent on that beneficiary and it can't be eNOS eNOS esse T's of life it has to be something beyond that so what do you suggest Stuart if you have somebody who has the the special needs trust and a trustee is just spending the money well I've got some good news for that special needs trust beneficiary and that is the courts gonna be very interested in this particular type of trust they know that this trust is set up for somebody who does have special needs maybe cognitive disabilities could be physical disabilities or both and so the courts going to take a keen interest when there's an allegation made that a trustee is abusing those assets and in fact we've seen where trustees have abused assets from a special needs trust and the court hammers them hammers them much harder in my opinion that I see them hammer trustees who do this in a non special needs trust scenario so that special needs beneficiary hopefully they can either themselves or find representation through a lawyer petition the court and you're gonna get a court that's gonna take some time and effort to look into any allegations of trustee who's abusing those assets and shouldn't be doing so and rightly so I mean if you're if you have a trustee who's abusing somebody with disabilities that is particularly heinous it is albertson and Davidson is here to help you fight for your inheritance check out Alda law calm for our complete library of helpful legal videos and articles from your favorite California trusts and we'll litigation law firm Albertson and Davidson LLP.