Advice with stepmother
Hi everyone. In California. My dad just explained the basics of the trust he and my stepmother have set up for me and my 3 step sisters. These are people I have only known for a few years, we didn’t grow up together and aren’t close now. The money is almost exclusively from my father, and the trust states I should get 70%, and each of his stepdaughters should get 10%. But the way I understand it, if my dad passes first, my stepmother basically retains control until she passes. While she can’t remove assets from the trust, she can still spend as much of the money as she chooses, including by giving it to her daughters. When I asked my dad about this possibility, he basically said “that’s why you should have a good relationship with them.” This makes me extremely uncomfortable, since again I barely know these people, and certainly don’t foresee having a relationship with them if my dad did pass first. Is there a better structure for this trust that I can reasonably suggest, or points I can bring up about why it’s not good as is without it sounding like I just don’t trust her?
Edit to add: me and my oldest stepsister are co-executors, but my understanding is my stepmother still gets to do whatever she wants as long as she doesn’t remove assets from the trust. I’m just not sure how much power I would actually have as executor?