1. Your grandparents really need to find counsel.
2. If the funds already turned over to the Trustee are sufficient to pay all allowed claims, the Trustee’s fee and the Trustee’s attny, there should be no need to liquidate any other assets or turn over the motorhome. However, you state they purchased the motorhome after filing. How did they do that? Was it with funds from the inheritance? If so, that was a no-no since those funds did not belong to them and the Trustee is correct in demanding its turnover.
3. Ask the Trustee to issue a claims bar date (if one has not already been issued). Wait until the claims bar date passes, then add up all of the claims, calculate the Trustee’s percentage and get a ball park for the legal fees. Once you know the amount needed to pay the claims cut a deal with the Trustee and be done with it.
4. Your grandparents have rights (“standing”) in this case as it sounds like, due to the inheritance, this is a “solvent” estate. This means they have a vested interest in the final outcome of the case as there may be a return of funds to them. Assuming they use property of the estate to purchase that motorhome, while they do not have “clean hands” they still do have an interest in what happens. But. . . they are not negotiating from a position of strength.
5. Your grandparents will not be able to get out of this case. The Trustee, who wants to make money and wants his lawyer to make money, will object to any Motion to Dismiss.
6. The Trustee will continue to have his attny run up the clock so the attny can make more money. The bleeding has to stop now and if your grandparents are not “tough enough” to cut a deal, they really need an attny to assist them. If they have been unsuccessful in locating one, call one of the attnys they have spoken to and find out who that attny would refer them to. There are attnys who deal with cases no one else either wants or feels comfortable handling. Those attnys usually do not advertise since they get their clients from referrals.
Des.

