Trusts can provide certain benefits for estate planning, including asset protection. But can you sue a trust?

If you have a trust, plan to create one or are the beneficiary of one, you'll want to understand whether or not it can be sued. It's not a simple yes/no, according to a recent article titled “Estate Planning: Can You Sue a Trust?” from Yahoo! Finance. For instance, it generally cannot be sued, but a trustee can.

Understanding when a lawsuit can be brought against a trust should be considered when creating an estate plan, a good reason to work with an experienced estate planning attorney.

A trust is a legal entity used to hold and manage assets on behalf of one or more beneficiaries. A trustee can be a person or business entity responsible for managing it and the assets it holds. Trusts can be revocable, meaning the person who created them (the grantor) can make changes, or irrevocable, meaning transfer of assets is permanent (for the most part).

Trusts are used to manage assets while the grantor is living and after they have died. There are many different types of trusts, from a Special Needs Trust (SNT) used to manage assets for a disabled person, or a CRT (Charitable Remainder Trust) used for charitable giving.

A trust cannot always protect the grantor or beneficiaries from litigation. If a person has debt and creditors want to be paid, they can sue a revocable trust, as you have not given up much in the way of control using this type of trust—you still directly own its assets!

Irrevocable trusts provide more protection. Once assets are it, the grantor has given up control of the assets. However, if it was created mainly to protect assets from creditors, a court could determine it was created fraudulently, and rule against the grantor, leaving all of the assets in the trust vulnerable to creditor lawsuits.

Can you sue a trust directly? Generally, no, but you can sue the trustee. You can also sue beneficiaries.

Here's an example. If you transfer a car into a revocable living trust and cause an accident leading to the death or serious injury of another driver, the driver or their family could sue the trust for damages indirectly, by suing you as the trustee.

Trustees are bound as fiduciaries to manage the trust assets as directed by the grantor and for the best interest of the beneficiaries. The trustee can be sued if someone, typically a beneficiary, believes the trustee is not carrying out their duties. A beneficiary might sue a trustee, if they were supposed to receive a certain amount of money at a specific time, but the trustee has not distributed the funds. This is known as a “breach of fiduciary duty.”

Trustees are also prevented from self-dealing or using trust assets for their own benefit. If a beneficiary believes a trustee is taking money from the trust for their own benefit, they can sue the trustee.

A trust can also be “contested,” which is different from suing. Contesting it occurs when someone believes the grantor was coerced or subjected to undue influence in creating it. It also happens if someone believes the trust or amendments to it were the result of elder financial abuse, or if it appears it has been forged or fraudulently altered.

Before a trust can be contested, there needs to be a valid suspicion it is somehow in violation of your state's estate planning laws. You also have to have legal standing to bring a claim. The court may or may not side with you, so there are no guarantees.

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Reference: Yahoo! Finance (Nov. 17, 2021) “Estate Planning: Can You Sue a Trust?”