Re: Estate Trust
It is quite likely, however it depends on the terms of the trust and what your cousin has been doing with the trust assets during this 3 year period.
As trustee, your cousin had a fiduciary duty (the highest one recognized by the law) to protect the assets and prevent waste. If your cousin has not been preforming up to their duty, reasonably, then it is likely that they could be found personally liable for the decrease in value.
Of course, if the decrease was due to the decrease in real property values, then the case may not be as strong, but there is still an argument that your cousin should have sold off real property and reinvested the money into a different form of asset.
Couple of questions...where was the death? Where is your cousin? Where are you?
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