When Can Trust Beneficiaries Be Changed

**chuckdup** · 11-11-2009, 06:05 PM

My question involves estate proceedings in the state of: Oklahoma

My wife and I are concerned over the estate of her Grandfather who passed earlier this year. The estate was to be divided up into 4 parts, one for each son of the deceased. My wifes father, one of the sons, passed 18 months ago, before his dad leaving his share of the trust to my wife and her brother (apparently this is an automatic thing??). Her brother is a finance broker and set up his trust many years ago, but the bastard is a control freak. He convince my wife, and 10 other grandchildren to sign over their portion of another grandfather who stated that they each get $10k following his death, that was 8 years ago. The money was to be signed back over to her grandmother, wife of the deceased, who recieved about $4m anyway, so why he thought she needed the extra $110k, we dont know, but like said, he is a control freak. Anyhoo, we asked him about the trust and one of the other brothers is now the trustee. We are concerned that someone, some how, has changed the beneficiaries, leaving us out. My brother in law is not concerned with getting his share as he is loaded, and thought we should give our share to their mom (the daughter in law of the deceased, wife of the passed son) because thats what he was going to do, again, controlling the situation (getting the picture??). Can anyone change the beneficiaries without a signature from my wife stating she is signing over her portion to who ever?? There was talk he would throw his and our portion in and split it 3 ways amoung the surviving 3 sons. Can they do that?? The trustee, my wifes uncle, is a great guy and I cant imagine him doing something like this, but Im not sure what my brother in law has done before the grandfather passed. We are not money hungry people, we just want what is ours, and our grandfather would not want it any other way. He wanted us to get our share or he would have changed the will before he passed. I know that was long winded and we would call laywers, and the trustee, but we are in Australia, so its not that simple.

Cheers
D

**Mr. Knowitall** · 11-14-2009, 08:02 AM

We don't know anything about the trust or its terms, and have no way of investigating that information. If your spouse has a copy of the original trust, its language will indicate if it's possible to change beneficiaries.

**chuckdup** · 11-15-2009, 08:08 PM

Thanks for the reply. My wife spoke to her brother and asked what was going on. The trustee, the son of the deceased, it waiting to sell some shares. Its a bit of a relief because if things had been changed, he would have told us not to worry about wht was going on with it. I had a feeling I was going to be answered with a question, but thought I would try it anyway. Appreciate your time.

D