Trust Funds.. I Need Help..

To make a long story short, 7 months ago my uncle died, and he left his fiance 40K, my mother 40K, and my grandma 40K. Now, everyone got there 40K except my mother, heres why..

My mom has been recieving disability for the past 10 years because of chrohns disease, she can't work, me and my bro help her out and pay some rent. Now, my grandama put my moms money in a trust fund, in which she cannot take out money. Every couple of months she can withdraw like $500, not much. My grandma said because she recieves the disability she couldn't just take the 40K check and cash it-and have it all for herself. My grandma said the govt would have taken the check, and she would have lost her money (40K).. Is this true, or is my grandma hording the money, and making money off of it, and letting my mother (who needs the money) not have squat..?

This has got my mother really upset, because we really don't know the whole truth of whats going on. I feel, honestly, that my grand parents are keeping us (my mom, me, and bro) from having the money because they feel we'd blow it in like a month, which ain't true.

My grandma said something also about the money being in a money market, or something to that affect. That the money, makes money-like stocks. I honestly feel that there is a lie somewhere, seriously. My uncles house had alot of bills on it, and my grand parents sold the house, they SOLD IT DAMNIT. We could have moved into the house, payed some bills, and lived better rather than being in apt's. My grandma said they needed the house money for her and her husbands retirement.

Somehow, i feel as if my mom is being FU**ED. And i don't like it.

Your grandma is a smart lady. Your mother is better off getting the distributions then the 40K up front.

As for the house that was sold - thats immaterial. It was theirs.

Yea, what yogs said was pretty true...

As far as the legality of the situation, check with the lawyer that set up the trust. He or she should be able to tell you (or at least your mom) the terms of the situation.

Yogs is right, Im not sure if trust funds earn interest or not buy your mom may be making even more money doing it that way

Who is in charge of the trust? They can explain it to you. I set up a trust, and man, the greed pops out like acne on a teenager. Remember, anything you get is a GIFT, it is not owed to you. This sort of thing rips families apart, and you don't have enough information to make a judgement. There are lots of things that legally affect the trust, and the people that set it up know what they are doing. I'm sure you're not being "ripped off."

you're not being ripped off. That's how trust funds work. It's better to get the 500 a month than 40K up front cause there are major taxes on that.