What Expenses May A Trustee Bill To An Estate

[grandmashakey]

My fathers will stated my sister was to distibute everything that was not already given to us kids ...basicly it amounted to nothing but some personal stuff and household furnishing of little value...however she has compiled a list of charges of which she expects to be reimbursed.....there is enough money left to pay the estate lawyer and we may have to dig in our pockets to cover all of that...

I question her (lost wages) to make the trip here from KC....but I can understand that although I thought she used vacation time...I question the U Haul rent because she used it to haul her stuff to KC (a piano)....there are her attorney fees of $150 but I don't know why she went to another lawyer....$200 to pay someone she hired to help her move her piano.....gas ..cleaning supplies...

We got her inventory list and some of the stuff was given to a charity although we were not aware of it before now and the will states (everything) was to be devided amoung the kids....

What are legitimate charges??

[aaron]

Your subject refers to a "trustee", but your post says "will" - is this an inheritance by a will or by a trust? The estate was in Missouri?

What is the relevance of these various expenses to the estate?

[grandmashakey]

Dad had a will ( Illinois) that left certain items to each of us kids and that stuff was given out right away....including his house which has been put in all our names too...so it is no longer part of the estate..

One sister was named Executor of the estate and another sister was named in the will as (trustee) to divide up the remainder of the (stuff) this sister lives in KC...

The remainder of the stuff is nothing more than household furnishings of little value and sone personal things...I am talking garage sale stuff here...sentemental value only

Because the sister responsible for this job lives in KC she is billing the estate for her lost wages and gas and all the other charges....we just got this bill today (after 2 years)

I want to know what charges is the estate legally responsible for...there is not enough money left to pay her however we will all get something when the house is finally sold...

[aaron]

After two years, the estate is not yet closed?

[grandmashakey]

The estate is not closed because we have all been waiting on sister to sort out and divide up all this worthless stuff......instead of leaving it all in the house and letting all of us come and get it when we could....she decided to make many trips here from KC at her convenience and pack it all up and haul it back to KC and put it in a storage unit until each person could come to her to get their stuff....with a few exceptions....mine and a brother because we live here..all of this took 2 years...dad died 2 years ago in June....the 77 hours is what sister is billing the estate based on her (time off) from her job to make the trips down here....

[lwpat]

Sounds like your sister got dumped on and the rest of you wouldn't help. I don't blame her for sending you a bill.

[Mr. Knowitall]

A trustee's compensation is usually based on the terms of the trust, although I suppose the will could make a provision for compensation of the trustee of a pour-over trust or similar vehicle. Is there a provision?

Generally speaking, she would be entitled to reasonable compensation for her services. This might not be her hourly wage, but for all we know the court might authorize compensation at that level or at a higher level. She would also be entitled to reimbursement of expenses she is authorized to incur, or which are reasonably necessary to the completion of her services. Nobody can move a piano alone, so if one of her duties was to get a piano out of the decedent's home it is more than reasonable for her to hire piano movers.

You give me the same impression that lwpat apparently has, that she went to get all of the items to bring them back, cleaned the house, expended a lot of time and energy, and now you want to nickel and dime her. I hope that's not the case.

[grandmashakey]

This was a control thing for her....she could have had plenty of help from me and my brother and our famlies....but she demanded we all stay out of the house and even changed the locks...there is an emotional thing here..she wanted the house but did not have the money to buy us out (not even close) so she told us all she if she couldn't have the house she would hold up the closing of the estate as long as she could....the longer she took to pack and move and clean the longer we had to wait to put it on the market....when we finally did get an offer (asking price) she would not sign the proposal...it is still not sold...we are willing to pay reasonable fees but her bill is higher then the estate lawyers...there is not enough money left to pay them both...

[Mr. Knowitall]

If you can't agree, the court will have to decide the issue. That will probalby result in additional legal fees.