trusts-and-estates
Can you be guaranteed a free lawyer to manage a trust fund dispute?
<p>I believe there is a trust in my name which I should have access to, but the trustee won’t transfer me the money. I’d like a lawyer to help me understand my rights better, but I called my free local legal counselling and they said they don’t do trust funds. It seems ironic that I can’t afford the lawyer that could make the case for me to get my money. Is there any law guaranteeing me my right to dispute the management of my trust in a court of law? How can I get the legal expertise I may need, in order possibly to exercise my right?</p>

<p><a href="/questions/tagged/united-states" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;united-states&#39;" rel="tag">united-states</a></p>
<p>You may be confusing the right to an attorney if you cannot afford one that is applicable only in CRIMINAL cases, not civil cases like you are discussing.</p>
<p>You may be able to get an attorney to take your case on a contingency basis but there are two things to keep in mind:</p>
<ol>
<li>The attorney has to have some expectation that the case is winnable.</li>
<li>The amount to be recovered must be worth the risk of taking on this case.</li>
</ol>
<p>In other words, for the attorney it's more of a business question that a legal one.</p>
<p>Many attorneys will give you a free 30 minute, more or less, consultation.  Perhaps you might give that a try.</p>

<p>There are a variety of cases, including some breaches of fiduciary duty by trustees, in which you can, after you have hired and paid a lawyer of your own, receive reimbursement from the trust or the trustee for some or all your legal fees.</p>
<p>But this is the exception to the general rule, often fees aren't fully recoverable in practice, and when it does happen, it happens after the fact.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Is there any law guaranteeing me my right to dispute the management of my trust in a court of law?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There may well be such a law, although that depends on the jurisdiction involved. But that is not the same as a law guaranteeing a free lawyer, and there quite likely is no such law, again depending on the jurisdiction of the case.</p>
