What should I do if I am not receiving funds or accountings from an irrevocable trust in NC?

If you are not receiving funds, please review your trust agreement with an attorney to verify what you are entitled to. Make sure the attorney is willing to make a written demand & follow through with litigation to enforce your rights under the trust agreement if the demand goes unheeded. Otherwise, you may just be mired in one of the levels of fiduciary purgatory per Dante.

You should demand the trust agreement, the balance, and an accounting. This is assuming you are a beneficiary of the trust. This goes for revocable and irrevocable trusts.

Do this accounting demand in WRITING, keep a copy of your correspondence.

If your trustee is refusing to provide balances and information regarding the trust, you should consider having an attorney write this demand and "start the clock".

Sometimes the letter works, especially if the trustee goes to an attorney and gets directed to follow the law and the trust agreement. Unfortunately, many times a removal action and hearing are required.

Timing: The longer you wait, the more likely asset values will be harmed.

Trustee rules: A trustee has fiduciary duties. The trustee owes beneficiaries a 'best interest' duty. Further, a trustee is required to abide by the duty to administer the trust, duty of loyalty, duty of impartiality, duty to be a prudent administration and investment, and more.

Here's an excerpt of the statute about reporting about trusts by the trustee. Per statute 36C-8-801

§ 36C-8-813. Duty to inform and report.

(a) The trustee is under a duty to do all of the following:

(1) Provide reasonably complete and accurate information as to the nature and amount of the trust property, at reasonable intervals, to any qualified beneficiary who is a distributee or permissible distributee of trust income or principal.

(2) In response to a reasonable request of any qualified beneficiary:

a. Provide a copy of the trust instrument.

b. Provide reasonably complete and accurate information as to the nature and amount of the trust property.

c. Allow reasonable inspections of the subject matter of the trust and the accounts and other documents relating to the trust.

Kirk Sanders has experience and success removing trustees and executors. Call his team at 336-510-4000