Many people contact us with the same troubling combination: they have little or no financial information, no trust agreement, no clear understanding of what their loved one owned and a strong belief that something is wrong. That uncertainty does not mean there is no path forward. It does mean that the process may require investigation, persistence and a candid evaluation of both the potential recovery and the cost of pursuing it.
The loss of a loved one is devastating enough. The situation becomes even more painful when questions arise about an expected inheritance or when a controlling fiduciary appears to treat the position as a personal entitlement rather than an obligation of trust. Although trustees and other fiduciaries have duties of disclosure and loyalty, some disregard those duties—and leave beneficiaries with uncertainty, suspicion and very little information.
Under Ohio law, a trustee owes duties that include loyalty and accountability. Yet some trustees refuse to disclose even the existence of a trust, much less provide complete information about its assets, income, expenses and distributions. This is not merely a theoretical problem. On more than one occasion, we have sent a request for information and received a response that effectively dared the beneficiary to take action.
A family member may reasonably expect to receive an inheritance, only to discover that cognitive decline, misuse of a power of attorney or the influence of a controlling person changed the expected outcome. Someone intent on obtaining the assets may also conceal what existed or how it was transferred. For the family, coping with the death of a loved one while lacking access to financial records or any reliable account of that person’s intentions can deepen an already painful loss.
One of the harsh realities surrounding death and money is the information vacuum a grieving family member may face. Heirs and beneficiaries often call us because they believe a loved one was taken advantage of or that an inheritance was diverted to a sibling, an aunt or uncle, a second spouse or even another parent. Whatever the suspected wrongdoer’s relationship to the family, the question is usually the same: What can I do?
Frequently, the person seeking help has almost no information—and sometimes that lack of information is itself the result of concealment. The value and location of the assets may be unknown, along with account records, trust agreements, historical beneficiary designations, gifting history and transactions made under a power of attorney or with the apparent consent of the person whose estate is in question. The caller may not know whether there was a will or trust, whether a lawyer was involved or where to begin looking. Often, all the person has is a deep suspicion that someone took advantage of a loved one.
The first questions are practical. Is there a legal path to obtain information? If the information can be obtained, what is it likely to reveal? Could it support a claim, and what might be recovered? Bad conduct alone does not create a practical victory; if it goes unchallenged, the wrongdoer may keep the benefit. A client therefore must decide whether to proceed despite incomplete information and uncertain cost. Often there is a path, but it may be long and expensive. At the outset, the client may have little more than a belief that assets were diverted from an expected inheritance, without knowing precisely what happened, when it happened or who was involved.
What can an estate and trust litigator do in this situation? Our practice focuses on disputes involving estates, trusts, beneficiary designations, lifetime gifts, misuse of powers of attorney and breaches of fiduciary duty. Those breaches may include a trustee’s failure to disclose the existence of a trust or to provide required notice and distributions. We have handled cases in which a beneficiary learned only by chance—sometimes years later—that a trust existed and that the beneficiary was entitled to receive something from it.
There are steps that can be taken, although no strategy can guarantee a satisfactory result. Court proceedings, estate administrations and written demands can help uncover records, identify a trail and determine where assets went and how they arrived there. Finding the assets, however, does not necessarily establish a right to recover them. Some transactions that result in disinheritance are lawful. Others may be challenged only if the evidence proves improper conduct, such as undue influence, lack of capacity, misuse of a power of attorney, theft or dishonesty. The legal task is to show that misconduct caused an asset to leave the path that would have led to the client and instead reach the person who received it.
Cost cannot be separated from this analysis. When the value of a potential claim is unknown, the initial assessment may require informed estimates: What did the loved one do for a living? Was the person frugal or burdened by significant expenses? Was the person a saver or a spender? Were funds kept in financial institutions, in cash or elsewhere? Finding the answers can be expensive, so each client must decide whether the investigation has sufficient financial or personal value to justify proceeding. Sometimes learning what happened is itself valuable. Starting an investigation does not require pursuing it indefinitely; the client can reassess the evidence, the likely recovery and the cost as the matter develops.
If you have concerns about an inheritance but don’t have the information you need, Fried Law Group can help you understand your options and weigh whether further investigation makes sense. Contact us online or call 216-307-1900 to discuss your situation with an inheritance dispute lawyer serving clients in Cleveland and throughout Ohio.