Money & Inheritance·
SIGNING AWAY THE TRUST
A Wisconsin daughter faces pressure from her father to relinquish her trust rights she hasn't read, while siblings sign away, raising questions about taxes, care, and family loyalties.
Sign now to keep peace, or wait and risk the fallout?
Be one of the first to vote.
A father in Wisconsin is pressuring his 25-year-old daughter to sign away her share of a trust she has never even been allowed to read.
Her grandfather died in January in Florida and left a trust for the family: her dad and his children. That meant the poster, her father, and her two siblings were all beneficiaries. She believes her dad is also the trustee, since he is the one managing the assets.
Now he wants the children to sign a document saying they will no longer be beneficiaries.
"My dad is now pressuring me to sign a document along with my two siblings that says I will no longer be a beneficiary of the trust," she wrote. "So basically the money will go to his personal trust/account (?) and I forgo the rights to sue him if I feel like he's mismanaging the assets."
The siblings already signed. She did not.
She says the trust is worth "a few million dollars," likely under five, and that her father says the paperwork would help him avoid steep taxes that would otherwise come out of the trust if it stays open longer. But the daughter says she has not been shown the trust itself, only this new request to give up her rights.
"Meanwhile, I haven't even been given the opportunity to read the trust," she wrote.
The stakes go beyond her own share. She says she is thinking about long-term care for her parents and what happens if she signs away access now. She also worries about her mother, who has been married to her father for 25 years, and whether "my mom wouldn't have access to the money."
Her questions pile up from there. What happens if she refuses? Would it damage her relationship with her dad? Is she being selfish for hesitating?
"I'm mostly thinking about long term care for my parents," she said. "Should I be worried about this or is that selfish?"
For now, the family is split between those who already signed to "keep the peace" and the one sibling still holding out. The daughter says she wants to understand the pros and cons, the long-term impact, and what questions she should ask before agreeing to anything that would remove her from the trust altogether.