Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania

May a skipped generation (son of the donor) take a portion of the total trust without breaking the entire trust? The skipped generation person is trying to urge his son - the generation receiving the trust - to sign off on only $25,000. It sounds fishy to me.


Asked on 6/01/13, 4:04 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

I have no idea without reviewing the entire trust. Only the beneficiaries of the trust are entitled to disposition but the beneficiary needs to read the trust.

You do not indicate how you are related here or why this would concern you. Regardless of what the father is urging his son to do or not do, the son, if he is a legal adult, needs to have the entire trust reviewed by a competent trust attorney. If the son is entitled to a distribution of money the trust should spell out how much and when. Any partial distributions authorized by the trust should not break the trust unless the distribution is so large as to reduce the trust assets substantially making the trust continuance impractical. The trust should contain language addressing its termination though.

Assuming that the son is entitled to the whole $25,000, this raises other questions. How old is the son? Why is he taking a distribution of this sum? What is the tax liability if any? What is the son going to do with the money? And why is the father urging a distribution? So the father can get the money?

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Answered on 6/02/13, 11:28 pm
Kevin Pollock Law Office of Kevin A. Pollock LLC

As Ms. Hunter said, it is impossible to know the answer without reviewing the trust document and knowing the size of the trust. Most likely the trustee is forbidden from doing this anyway, so it is probably a moot point. I would strongly recommend that you have an attorney review the trust before making a decision.

Kevin A. Pollock, J.D., LL.M.

www.PollockAtLaw.com

P: (609) 818-1555

Licensed to practice law in Florida, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

Also, visit my blogs at:

http://WillsTrustsEstates.blogspot.com/

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Answered on 6/03/13, 6:54 am


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