I am remarried, between my husband and I we have 5 adult children. The house we live in together is mine purchased before I met him. I wanted to make sure my 2 children will get the house. The house is in a trust, he can live in the house until his death. Then my 2 children will get the house. In the same Trust he has spelled out what his children will get. We were told by our attorney that Trusts cannot be contested. Is that true? We do have a will for each but the details after our death is spelled out in the Trust We have been together for 22 years and married for 16 years.
The terms of your Trust is that your husband may have lifetime use of the property until his death if you pass first. If such is the case then the home passes to your heirs after he passes. This cannot be contested. Even if you made a 'Revocable Trust' the only person that can change the terms of that Trust would be you.
No one can contest the terms of a Trust that you put your property in. It's not a maritial asset.
Is it a Revocable or Irrevocable Trust? Google AI says either can be contested. You can put in language that if a beneficiary unsuccessfully challenges the trust, they forfeit their inheritance (in a will too). If it's revocable, can it only be changed by both spouses...or could the remaining spouse change it? You might think, he/she would never go against my wishes...but what if they experience some cognitive decline or one of their children really needs help? If you pass first, does the house immediately come out of the trust and go to your children but they let your husband live there? Or does the house remain in the trust until your husband passes? If so, what if the assets/house needs to be used for AL, MC or NH expenses (or to satisfy a Medicaid lein)?
I think I gave you more questions than answers. I've been looking into this as I want to make sure that bigger shares of what's left goes to our kids then to those from my spouse's prior marriage.
A trust doesn't need to go through probate, and therefore isn't open to public records. The successor trustee will be responsible to distribute the assets of the trust as it's stipulated. I was the successor trustee for my mother's trust, and I was specifically told I didn't have to tell any of the beneficiaries what was in the estate. If I had wanted, I could have kept everything for myself and told my sisters there was nothing left. Of course, I wouldn't do that, and my mom knew I wouldn't do that, which is why I was named as successor trustee in the first place.
Good luck.