Can a Lawsuit be Brought against a Trust?

A trust is a legal method to transfer your assets to another person or persons (trustees) who are responsible for holding your assets on behalf of your beneficiaries. You can also name yourself as the trustee of your trust and maintain complete control over your assets. Revocable living trusts are often recommended because they can be changed or revoked at any time. However, the trust is not completely protected from claims against it.

A trust cannot be sued by other parties and the trust itself cannot sue other parties. However, the trustee can be sued for several reasons:

• There is strong evidence that the trustee is taking advantage of their position to make monetary gains from the trust
• An outside party is suing for assets from the trust they believe are rightfully theirs
• There is reasonable doubt regarding the validity of the trust, such as evidence to support that the creator of the trust was coerced to include or omit certain beneficiaries from the trust

Hiring a trust litigator is the best course of action if you want to sue a trustee or if you are the trustee being sued. You will need an experienced attorney to advise you regarding the best course of action for your case.

If you are concerned that your estate might be a sitting duck for a lawsuit from an outside party, a comprehensive estate planning attorney can recommend strategies to protect your assets.

The Denver estate planning lawyers at The Brown Law Firm, LLC can help you with trust creation and trust litigation in Colorado. To learn more, please contact us at (303) 339-3750 or send us a message online.