What state laws, if any, would be broken if you are a trustee of a trust in the state of Alabama?

Thats your problem, you hold the financial strings. Brother can no longer get to Moms money. Actually, if he has stolen from Mom that is elder abuse. Her money is for her care not his or his familie's. As long as you can account for every cent that has been spent on Mom, you have no problem.

He can always hire a lawyer and ask for an accounting if he feels you are using Moms money. If the trust allows you to be paid, I would do it. You don't have to spend it. Put it in a separate acct thats there if Mom should need it. When all is said and done the inheritance is going to be split two ways. You may as well get paid for what u do.

Next time SIL makes a statement like that, ask her what laws does brother think you have broken. Because you will ask your lawyer and see what he says. And if u have broken any laws, you will immediately correct the problem. As my daughter says, turn it back on them.

Thank you! I agree! No brother is not an attorney. Him his wife and daughter have been a pain in my backside for the past 13 years. He has stolen from momma many times and I have had to do things to protect momma financially. They don't like it and will try to get back at me.

What are the specific laws? BTW, you can pay yourself for the time spent administering the trust. I was a trustee for many years and didn't take a dime. I spent probably hundreds of hours and now think I should have paid myself something. My siblings would have been okay with that, I think, as long as the rate was fair.

Well, your brother will have to come up with actual evidence. Sounds like you did your due diligence by running it past an attorney for the state in which the Trust is in. You have a legal paper trail.

We here on this forum are not attorneys and even if we were, we couldn't give you any guidance without reviewing ALL of what you've done on behalf of the Trust. Is your brother an attorney for the state of Alabama? Even if he is, he needs to put up or shut up. End of story.