"The whole idea of a trust is to accumulate wealth. Where there is wealth, there is greed, and where there is greed, you’ll find temptation — and often misconduct."
"The real concern is the trustee who is determined to milk the trust for fees that are reimbursable from the trust (SRNM.com - had a principle attorney on the banks board) The real concern is the trustee who is determined to milk the trust for fees that are reimbursable from the trust. There are lots of ways to do this, but the #1 best and leading way for trustees to milk fees is to manufacture a dispute with the beneficiaries — this leads to litigation, and litigation leads to fees".
There are other benefits to such trust litigation,
such as that the trustee can hire a law firm to help milk the trust and
the trustee can sometimes receive “referral fees” from the law firm
around-the-barn or at the very least the law firm will be expected to
send its new trust business to the trustee.
The trustee can also look for ways to milk the
trust by firing the flames of disputes between trustees, or between
trustees and other heirs. Many years ago, I was involved in one such
dispute — representing a beneficiary — where the trustee was able to
bill over $1 million in fees just for the trust company representatives
and its lawyers to sit idly by and watch litigation between
beneficiaries that didn’t materially affect the trust.
- Forbes.com
