in Georgia. our mom passed away recently with a trust instructing my brother and i are co-executors of the estate. we are the only children ...

Question

in Georgia. our mom passed away recently with a trust instructing my brother and i are co-executors of the estate. we are the only children and have no problems distributing the estate. unfortunately the attorney that drafted the trust neglected to word the will so we would be absolved from from accounting/reporting the assets within the trust. my mothers intent was to keep prying eyes from seeing what was contained in the estate. we were told by the probate judge that we could petition the court for absolution of the need for accounting/reporting assests. what form do we use to petition the court to rectify the oversight? total value of the estate is UNDER one million dollars.

Answer

Legal terms mean things. If there is a trust then executors do not apply. Executors are in charge of estates where there is a will. Trustees are in charge of trusts.

So the first thing you need to do is figure out what you have. If you have a revocable living trust, there should be a pour-over will in case there were any assets not owned by the trust. The pour-over will provides that everything that is not already in the trust "pours over" into the trust as of death, after payment of estate bills.

If all property was owned by the trust already, then there would be no need for probate. In that case, the trustees then just follow the trust by paying debts and then distributing the net estate.

I don't know what you are referring to. A trustee needs to file accountings/annual reports with beneficiaries unless the beneficiary waives a right to the information in writing. However, these are given to the beneficiaries, not filed with the court.

If an estate is probated (because there is a will and assets justifying probate), then inventories and accountings are filed. If the will did not provide for it, then all of the beneficiaries can agree in writing to waive the filing of an inventory The same is true for filing an accounting.

To my knowledge there are no forms. If an estate is sizeable enough to justify the creation of a trust, then it is sizeable enough for you to be hiring a probate attorney who can draft this.

And really, what prying eyes do you think would be reading any inventory/accounting reports anyway? I don't know where this is, but I for one have better things to do than go see what my dead neighbor owned at the courthouse. Most of my clients have no interest in visiting the courthouse. So unless you have a Gladys Kravitz for a neighbor who loves going to the courthouse and poring through estate files to read inventories and accountings, I just don't see the reason for this concern here and why there is an overwhelming need for secrecy especially as this estate is under $1 million. We are not talking about some fabulously wealthy person who could be featured on lifestyles of the rich and famous with houses, boats, planes and so forth.