Ownership of personal documents after death

[jpadie]

Dear hive mind

my father passed away last year and probate was granted a couple of months ago. the will stipulates that all assets go into trust for my father's children with a life interest in the income to his spouse. this is an immediate post death interest trust.

my idle thoughts turned to whether my siblings and I have a right to non-income bearing assets such as photo albums and documents. I'd like, for example, to have or copy files so that I could learn from my father's investment strategy over the decades. I'd also like to get the family albums copied for my siblings and me.

I know I can just "ask" the spouse and hope that the answer is positive. and why would it not be. My question is more the legal precision of who holds the legal and beneficial titles to non-income bearing assets. If the answer is the trustee then my follow on question is that since the asset in question is not subject to any useful life interest can my siblings and I dissolve the trust in respect of those assets (we are the only named residual beneficiaries)?

thanks in advance. I'm looking forward to reading the responses.

thanks
jpadie

[PallasAthena]

A person's Estate when they die includes everything they own. That includes things which have no monetary value such as photo albums, personal letters, etc. I'm not a lawyer and it's not a question I've come across before so I'm in 'educated guess' territory here but I think the original documents are no different to any other property of your late father, ie his spouse has life interest so gets to keep them during her lifetime and after her death they pass to you and your siblings as stipulated in the Will. So during the life interest the Trustees are the legal owners. Who are the Executor(s) and Trustee(s)?

As you say the spouse may be willing to give up her interst and pass them to you anyway. Alternatively one feature of document assets without monetary value is that they can be copied in way that cash or property can't, so you can have a copy without the spouse having to give up the original. Maybe ask the Trsutee(s) will be willing to do that without too much legal analysis? You don't say what relationships are like between you and your father's spouse and one concern might be that she could destroy them. Having a copy now mitigates that risk (if it is a risk).

[jpadie]

Thank you for the response.

I am a lawyer of nearly 30 years and the answer is not clear to me; albeit I am not a trust specialist.

This is not really about whether the life tenant or the trustee acquiesces. It is a pure question of law as to whether an asset that is not income generating can accrue for the benefit of a life tenant in an IPDI or if it automatically falls into the hands of the absolute beneficiaries as the trust cannot act over the asset to the benefit of the life tenant.

[atticus]

You have said that all assets go into trust. The executors can take control of them.