Is It Legal for Me to See Documents From a Revocable Trust?

Question

Our father and his wife (our stepmother) created a revocable trust and moved their house and other assets to the trust. My sister and I are beneficiaries. After our father passed away, and our stepmother sold the house. Are we legally able to see the trust documents?

Answer

Probably, yes. Typically, beneficiaries to revocable trusts have no rights. But revocable trusts become irrevocable upon the death of the grantor, at which point beneficiaries do have rights because their status becomes permanent. The problem is there’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation. Your rights depend on the terms of the trust, but you can’t know your rights without seeing the trust. Either way, your stepmother should share the trust since transparency is always the best policy. Refusal to share information leads to suspicions even when the individual is doing nothing wrong.