Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Maryland
In 2002, my father died and I was 12 years old. He was remarried to my stepmother, however they were having marital problems and were not living together. My mother had full custody of me. His original will 'disappeared' and my stepmother presented a new one. I ended up getting my father's truck, and my stepmother's father set up an education fund for me for people to contribute to. The agreement was he would turn it over to my mother. also, my father's company would match any contributions. I think it ended up being about $5k. When my mother inquired about the fund, my stepmother's father told her he turned the money over to his daughter, my stepmother. Not long after, she remarried and bought a new house! My mother tried for years to get her to turn over the money, which she never did. My mother has emails as recently as a couple of years ago, at about the time I turned 18, asking for the money and she stated she would get it to me. My mother has saved all of this.
Is there any recourse to getting this money from her? The company my father worked for turned the money over to my stepmother, since it was my father's wife. Since we have communications to my mother from my stepmother clearly stating she has the money and would turn it over, do I have any grounds to sue her? I have just turned 22. Thanks. She lives in WV and I live in MD. My father died in WV.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Thanks for your post. It seems you would benefit from a specific legal review of your situation but I'll outline some general legal information that might help.
Depending on whether the educational fund was set up as an formal or informal trust you may have different options. If someone holds money in trust for another person but uses it for their own purposes, it may be possible to sue for breach of fiduciary duty. Otherwise if the trustee still has the funds one can legally demand their disbursement if all conditions are met. It isn't clear from your post whether you sought the educational funds for education use, what conditions might have been put on this from the will and so forth.
Generally one must file claims within the applicable statute of limitations. If the Trustee lives in WV and the property was in WV, you likely will need to involve a WV attorney. I encourage you to consult an attorney familiar with estate / trust litigation to review the specific details of your situation.
You mention people who live in Maryland and West Virginia and this primary dispute is over a trust that was established. Depending on the type of trust it may be enforceable in more than one state. Your question also brings forth a matter of whether your father's intentions were fulfilled. I'd need to discuss this second matter as there are several facts that I need to know.
You also discuss a potential statutory claim that you mother may have established for child support. There is no statute of limitation on collection of child support in Maryland once an order to collect has been made. This would be your mother's claim to bring and if not collected against the estate this would be difficult to enforce.
If the probate of your father's estate was done without a will then this is applicable. Only probate property applies to this statute.
Share of surviving spouse
(a) General.- The share of a surviving spouse shall be as provided in this section.
(b) Surviving minor child.- If there is a surviving minor child, the share shall be one-half.
(c) No surviving minor child, but surviving issue.- If there is no surviving minor child, but there is surviving issue, the share shall be the first $15,000 plus one-half of the residue.
(d) No surviving issue, but surviving parent.- If there is no surviving issue but a surviving parent, the share shall be the first $15,000 plus one-half of the residue.
(e) No surviving issue or parent.- If there is no surviving issue or parent, the share shall be the whole estate.
(f) Calculation of net estate.- For the purposes of this section, the net estate shall be calculated without a deduction for the tax as defined in � 7-308 of the Tax-General Article.
Maryland Code, � 3-102
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