My fiance since 2003 passed away 6 months ago from cancer. I am the trustee of his trust! Can I be paid for being his 24/7 caregiver?

When my dad got sick, we got his trust and estate attorney over to the house to make some final changes to the trust. I left the room so my dad could speak frankly with his attorney, and at that time he insisted I be paid for caring for him and my mother through his final illness. I also became the Trustee at that time, as he and my mother resigned as Trustees so I could take over seamlessly before Dad passed.

That said, as Trustee, I really had a hard time paying myself for doing what I felt was my duty as a daughter. It was the attorney who insisted because my dad had insisted. Had Dad not made that desire clear, there was no way I'd have paid myself.

In the first year after Dad's death, I paid myself for my work for the trust because there was a LOT of work to do, and it really did take up a lot of my time, especially with me having to drive 100 miles round trip twice a week to deal with things. However, the work load is minimal now as I oversee my mother's affairs, and I moved Mom closer to me, so I don't charge for my time. When she passes, though, I'll go back on the clock to wrap up everything. My brother is the only other beneficiary, and he's fine with that.

The short answer to your question though is no, you can't be paid if you didn't set it up in advance, but start now keeping a log of the time you spend administering your duties as Trustee so you can be paid for that work. You also should consult a trust and estate attorney and a CPA, because there are a lot of duties most Trustees don't even know about, like getting an appraisal of the property, filing an estate tax return (or postponing it, if necessary). My MIL and BIL have made an absolute train wreck of her trust by not doing the things they were supposed to in the proper time frame.

No you probably can’t be paid for this. You need to follow what the trust says. You were basically living as husband and wife, spouses don’t typically get paid to be a spouse. If there are assets outside the trust then the daughter can probably pursue a claim against that part of the estate. You really should contact an attorney rather than ask for this kind of advice on the internet as it’s going to be case specific and you need to hire an attorney to go over the trust and tell you what’s allowed and who can come after the trust & for what.

I’m confused..... is it the case that there are 2 daughters; 1 is 33 from his first marriage w/35% interest and the other is your & his minor child that you are guardian for as she is a minor? And you are not a surviving spouse or legally considered a common law spouse?

Im trying to figure out why someone with only 35% interest is asking for rent. So who’s the other 65% of the Trust?
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How is the Trust being supported financially?
By this I’m asking does the Trust have assets titled into the trusts name - like stocks or other investments or opened with serious $$$ put into the Trust initially - that regularly provide income to “feed” the Trust and at a high enough level to pay all costs of everything that is in the name of the Trust? And likely $$$ available for years if not decades.
That house has all sorts of costs..... from property taxes to insurance to maintenance. The house is in the name of the Trust, so Trust should have $$$$ to pay this. If not then someone else needs to come up with $ to pay property costs on the behalf of the Trust. Could this possibly be what is happening?

In theory, the Trustee of the Trust should be very well aware of the financial situation of the Trust they are responsible for. Is there more than 1 Trustee or could things for your daughter be within the trust.... like it’s a Testamentary trust within the bigger Trust.

Trusts sound all fabulous. But there has to be $ to support it. What seems to happen is that house gets put into Trust with no real $ and the old owner has some of their retirement income (like their SS$ or pension or salary) either going into the Trust each month to cover house costs OR they continue to pay all property costs from their personal bank account. Then they die AND that $ stops cause they are dead. If trust doesn’t itself have own assets, to “feed” the trust, it will defund. Could this be what is happening or looming on the horizon? Dealing with a unplanned defunded trust is a real sticky PIA. I was coTrustee on my cousins trust and we did a planned defund and no way it was a DIY, you need an Atty to do all the filings.

probably the easiest thing to do would be for other 65% to buy out Missy 33 35% interest.

On getting paid for caregiving after the fact, I don’t see that being done. Time to get paid for doing a job is when it is being performed and being reported with taxes, FICA etc done. If the Trust has $, it should be able to pay you for management or oversight of the property in some way. Or if the Trust has your daughter as beneficiary, Trust pays you for oversight of the minor.

You can be paid as Trustee of the Trust to settle the Trust.
I have a question. What did he leave YOU? If nothing, I would refuse to act as Trustee. It is a difficult job. Why do it with everything left to the daughter. As to the daughter, unless YOU as Trustee have already distributed the Trust to her, the home is not yet hers. It belongs to the Trust and you are Trustee of the Trust. You do not have to give her a thing. She is not involved other than to be a beneficiary of a Trust that is not yet distributed to her.
See a Lawyer if you choose to act as Trustee. With the daughter out there drooling over her future home already, you cannot afford to make mistakes.
As to the question of whether or not you can be paid NOW out of his Trust or any other way, the answer is NO. A dead person cannot make a deal to pay for care. It is too late for that. The fact you question this makes me know that you must contact a Trust and Estate Lawyer now. There is too much you do not understand about your duties as Trustee to do this alone.
Wishing you good luck. I myself would refuse to accept being Trustee of Trust. If you already HAVE then it is too late to refuse. Once accepting that duty it is impossible to resign without agreement of beneficiaries.
I hope that your fiance left you with funds; if not, I guess it is an awful lesson about living without legal rights as a spouse for two decades, and caring for someone who did not care back.
I wish you good luck going forward, and I am so sorry for your loss.