@Hi Palms @dmertz
Thank you for your replies. I've already reached out to the lawyer who wrote up the Trust but he is asking for a decent bit of change just to discuss it. It appears I was wrong in assuming the $10K my dad paid to write up the Trust entitled me to at least some follow-up question. It's not a money issue since the Trust would pay for the consultation not me personally, it is more a matter of principle. I hate paying for the same thing twice. So with that being said, I am including a few more details so hopefully you can offer more guidance.
When my father created, and financed, the trust my mother was still alive and his primary goal was to insure that she would be taken care of. She was in the early stages of Dementia at the time and my father was worried that if he died that she would not be able to handle the finances so he had a lawyer create a Revocable Trust in my name with specific instructions that the funds would be used to take care of him and my mom until they passed. Unfortunately his concerns were for naught as my mother died six years ago. I asked him if he wanted to terminate the trust at that time but he decided to keep it in place in case he ever got to the point that he couldn't handle his own finances. It was his wish that the funds be dispersed within six months of his death so I'm am just following his wishes but I don't want to be stuck with a tax bill for all of the money in the trust. The Trust states that any expenses would be paid by it so I need to know if I should withhold a portion of the distribution to pay for the taxes, if I am going to be responsible for them. It's not that I don't trust my brother and sisters to help with the bill if necessary, I just think it would be easier to resolve the issue now instead of waiting six months.
