This is in response to [redacted]'s complaint referenced above.
1-She states our firm was hired to handle the trust in June 2014. We were contacted in June, but the official agreement and legal documents appointing me as trustee were not signed until...
7/25/14. We cannot proceed until I am legally appointed.2-She states it is now December and the family has not seen that anything has been accomplished. Since 7/25/14 much has been done. They may not realize this because until recently (12/18/14), the bulk of the trust had not been transferred to the beneficiaries. Part of the delay in August was my assistant and the [redacted] broker's assistant being on overlapping vacations. Additionally, the [redacted] broker would not accept any legal documents or request to initiate the transfers until his assistant returned. Upon her return, we immediately provided [redacted] all needed documents, and [redacted] immediately acted on them. This delay was minimal compared to the delay caused by thebeneficiaries in setting up their individual accounts at [redacted]. The normal procedure by investment firmswhen transferring assets for distribution is to open an account with the firm where the investments are located.Additionally, the original request from the beneficiaries was to transfer/distribute without liquidating any investments. The [redacted] broker advised that not all investments were divisible evenly among all beneficiaries, so some investments would need to be liquidated. Therefore, the [redacted] broker needed confirmation or instructions on how to proceed. The fastest, least complicated and least expensive method is to liquidate everything and distribute in cash. This was not a route to be taken, so there was much communications and additional delays in deciding how to proceed on behalf of the beneficiaries. Once an agreement was decided, and confirmation was received from all beneficiaries on how the investments would be handled, we were provided forms by [redacted],which were immediately completed and returned to [redacted] for processing. As of today, three of the four beneficiaries have set up and received their shares of the [redacted] accounts. The only one that has not done so is the beneficiary that submitted the complaint. The reason is that she still has not returned paperwork needed to set up her account at [redacted].3-She states and this is correct, that we set up a trust administration account where we deposited the forwarded checks she had been holding. The checks were deposited into the Trust Administration account on 11/7/14. This account was set up to pay fees associated with the administration of the trust This is a normal procedure when handling a trust and includes paying our fees, as our fees are an expense of the trust's administration.Our invoices are not paid without prior approval. Our invoices are detailed;provide a clear explanation as to what was handled, and the amount charged for handling each item. Our billing periods cut offevery 15th of the month and usually invoices are generated about 10 days after. Invoices are due upon receipt, as stated on our fee agreement, which all beneficiaries signed and notarized on 7/25/14.On 9/15/14 a request for our billing and accounting was received from the beneficiary, so the initial invoice covering time period 7/29/14-8/15/14 was provided on this date. No financial accounting was provided as no cash had been collected or received by us at that time.On this date, the invoice covering the time-period 8/16/14- 9/15/14 had not yet been generated, but was quickly provided to the beneficiaries after generating it on 10/01/14.On 11/7/14 an email was sent to all beneficiaries and included our third invoice covering time period9/16/14-10/15/14. Additionally included in the email was a register report of the Trust Administration account reflecting the deposited checks and total cash on hand. At the time, all beneficiaries were also informed that if they had any questions about this invoice or any of the previously provided invoices, they had 7 days to let us know, as we would pay our invoices with the funds on hand. No questions or responses were received,so all three invoices were paid on 11/19/14.4-We have always and continue to send all beneficiaries our monthly invoices, updated register reports, and, as they become available, copies of bank statements. Therefore, her statement that we do not provide her documentation is incorrect. In fact, as an extra step not usually the norm, we haveprepared a spreadsheet detailing all pending trust items, the status of each, what still needs to be done, and an estimated time frame for completion. In addition, the spreadsheet includes an inventory detailing the cash value of the trust items, and a disbursement schedule. This spreadsheet is being updated and emailed to all beneficiaries weekly.5-We are sorry that the beneficiary feels we are keeping information from her, that we are making excuses or that we do not know what we are doing. We have many years of experience, and we have handled many trusts, so we are very aware trust is an important factor in our industry and in dealing with clients. Even though she is rude in her communication with us, we are working very hard to gain her trust by doing everything possible to accommodate her and the other beneficiaries' request. This includes being honest and truthful when we cannot handle something as quickly as she expects it to be handled, or if we admit to inadvertently providing incorrect information. Unfortunately,the beneficiary has an unfounded belief that the trust would be settled in a matter of months, when in reality the norm is a minimum of a year from the date of initiation of service. In fact, it has not even been a year since the date of death of the Trustor on 4/8/14.6-She states that we had no idea what to do about handling the dividing of the investments, so the beneficiaries had to come up with a plan to divide the bonds. As mentioned previously, the fastest, least complicated and least expensive method to distribute estate funds is to liquidate everything and distribute the cash to the beneficiaries. The request from the beneficiaries was to distribute andtransfer without liquidating any investments even when the bonds were not similar in value,rate,class or number. Because the [redacted] broker could not proceed without direction, the Certified Public Accountant for the trust offered, for a price,to develop a plan for the beneficiaries' review to distribute all bonds as evenly as possible without liquidating any of them. This is when the beneficiaries decided it was acceptable and more cost effective to distribute the evenly distributable bonds and liquidate the odd numbered bonds. It was not that we did not know what to do. It was about accommodating their wish of transferring all or most of the investments instead of liquidating them, and having the beneficiaries,satisfied with the outcome.7-ln response to her statement on desired settlement, we respond that we have been and areaccountable, we are being truthful and transparent, and we have provided them all that has been requested from us. This includes the weekly status reports, invoices and bank statements. In fact, we are compiling a packet that will include copies of what has been previously provided. In addition, it will include copies of every single document processed to date on behalf of the trust,such as copies of all invoices paid and deposits. We will periodically continue providing register reports that reflect these later two items and the cash on hand. An official accounting will be prepared after the year for tax purposes and a copy will be provided to all beneficiaries as well. If we agree to pay any penalties for missed dates, these will be based on standard time frames for handling trusts, not illusory completion dates. At this time, we are on schedule and completing the trust administration as quickly as possible, given multiple beneficiaries and multiple assets and accounts with which we must work.Thank you for bringing her complaint to our attention. It has given us an opportunity to respond to her allegations which we believe are unfounded.Sincerely,
[redacted], CLPF
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
This response from Ms [redacted] is typical of our previous dealings with her. There is a lot of information included which is irrelevant "fluff" and not addressing the basic issues. This response continues to avoid the issues of accountability from her. Any information, especially her "weekly" accounting reports had to be "rudely" demanded. She makes it sound as if she has been happily providing information to us in weekly reports which is simply not true. The asking and asking and prodding and the escalation to near force to have progress and future plans information given to us have not been acknowledged. No information was provided to us openly, willingly or regularly. We were ignored and/or given a multitude of reasons why giving us weekly updates was simply not going to happen. We have received approximately three sporadically spaced "weekly" reports.
Also, according to our original dealings with [redacted], specifically[redacted], our father's trusted broker and professional business person, this was an easily done process which could be completed in two to three months and certainly could be accomplished well before the end of the year. Ms [redacted] was in agreement with this and committed to a completion date of 12/31/2014. This date has not been honored. Now out of the blue she states that this is unreasonable and she needs at least a year. I just found this out in her letter to Revdex.com. When was she going to tell us? This is typical of her pattern of leaving us in the dark and then trying to make us look stupid. We were told by her that all would be completed by the end of the year for tax reasons. This is not my idea of trustworthy or reliable. It feels more like ineptness and dishonesty.
As for the invoices, more smoke and mirrors. We never saw an actual INVOICE with a due date and were surely not asked to review or okay said "invoice". Does a sporadic burst of accountability shown on a spreadsheet qualify to somehow be this alleged invoice? Yet, I kept asking for invoices and received none.
According to the date of her letter, she should have known that all four accounts have been established at [redacted], yet she takes a stab at me by saying mine is not. I've actually had one since June 2014, but now I have another.
It would be nice if Ms [redacted] would admit to her shortcomings, change her defensive stance and try to do a better job. I have not enjoyed being forced to be assertive to get information that should have been freely shared. This has become a most distasteful experience because of her attitude. Now I see that she expects more time to do more of the same bluffing and fabricating, meanwhile still helping herself to money that is not hers to take.
I very much look forward to the end of this relationship. I feel it needs to be known by future clientele.
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
The response from Premiere Fiduciaries is childish and mostly untrue. My brothers will attest to the fact that we were not receiving ANY feedback for weeks and weeks although it was repeatedly requested. Premiere Fiduciaries has NOT been forthcoming and quite frankly refused and gave excuses for all requests until I had to become more assertive. Their avoidance created suspicion regarding their ability. We could not get a plan or commitment from them to keep us updated. The constant asking and being refused has been exhausting.
Now, Premiere Fiduciaries is trying to make it look like "their client" is the problem. How can that be? All we have wanted from the beginning was to be updated at least weekly. Any "misunderstanding" should have been handled in a professional manner. I resent being singled out for being persistent. Premiere Fiduciaries is finally being more cooperative, even to the point of being ridiculous. Finally sending mountains of paperwork to make up for their previous refusal does not negate the fact that it was refused to us for so long. There were plenty of things mailed to me that were NEVER emailed. On the issue of being unable to open attachments, why could they not be sent correctly? For one invoice which was finally sent, it came corrupted at least three times. To blame me is unacceptable. (I worked on proprietary software for may years and probably have more understanding of how things work.) The problem has not been on the receiving end of this scenario, although Premiere Fiduciaries would like to think that is the case.
I come from the business world and have been appalled with this company's stubbornness, surliness and unprofessional behavior. Where I come from you give the customer what they want. You are employed by them and expected to be accountable. Premiere Fiduciaries is "guilty" of all of the things I profess. They are not being truthful, repentant or responsible.
Regards,
[redacted]
This is in response to [redacted]'s complaint referenced above.
1-She states our firm was hired to handle the trust in June 2014. We were contacted in June, but the official agreement and legal documents appointing me as trustee were not signed until...
7/25/14. We cannot proceed until I am legally appointed.2-She states it is now December and the family has not seen that anything has been accomplished. Since 7/25/14 much has been done. They may not realize this because until recently (12/18/14), the bulk of the trust had not been transferred to the beneficiaries. Part of the delay in August was my assistant and the [redacted] broker's assistant being on overlapping vacations. Additionally, the [redacted] broker would not accept any legal documents or request to initiate the transfers until his assistant returned. Upon her return, we immediately provided [redacted] all needed documents, and [redacted] immediately acted on them. This delay was minimal compared to the delay caused by thebeneficiaries in setting up their individual accounts at [redacted]. The normal procedure by investment firmswhen transferring assets for distribution is to open an account with the firm where the investments are located.Additionally, the original request from the beneficiaries was to transfer/distribute without liquidating any investments. The [redacted] broker advised that not all investments were divisible evenly among all beneficiaries, so some investments would need to be liquidated. Therefore, the [redacted] broker needed confirmation or instructions on how to proceed. The fastest, least complicated and least expensive method is to liquidate everything and distribute in cash. This was not a route to be taken, so there was much communications and additional delays in deciding how to proceed on behalf of the beneficiaries. Once an agreement was decided, and confirmation was received from all beneficiaries on how the investments would be handled, we were provided forms by [redacted],which were immediately completed and returned to [redacted] for processing. As of today, three of the four beneficiaries have set up and received their shares of the [redacted] accounts. The only one that has not done so is the beneficiary that submitted the complaint. The reason is that she still has not returned paperwork needed to set up her account at [redacted].3-She states and this is correct, that we set up a trust administration account where we deposited the forwarded checks she had been holding. The checks were deposited into the Trust Administration account on 11/7/14. This account was set up to pay fees associated with the administration of the trust This is a normal procedure when handling a trust and includes paying our fees, as our fees are an expense of the trust's administration.Our invoices are not paid without prior approval. Our invoices are detailed;provide a clear explanation as to what was handled, and the amount charged for handling each item. Our billing periods cut offevery 15th of the month and usually invoices are generated about 10 days after. Invoices are due upon receipt, as stated on our fee agreement, which all beneficiaries signed and notarized on 7/25/14.On 9/15/14 a request for our billing and accounting was received from the beneficiary, so the initial invoice covering time period 7/29/14-8/15/14 was provided on this date. No financial accounting was provided as no cash had been collected or received by us at that time.On this date, the invoice covering the time-period 8/16/14- 9/15/14 had not yet been generated, but was quickly provided to the beneficiaries after generating it on 10/01/14.On 11/7/14 an email was sent to all beneficiaries and included our third invoice covering time period9/16/14-10/15/14. Additionally included in the email was a register report of the Trust Administration account reflecting the deposited checks and total cash on hand. At the time, all beneficiaries were also informed that if they had any questions about this invoice or any of the previously provided invoices, they had 7 days to let us know, as we would pay our invoices with the funds on hand. No questions or responses were received,so all three invoices were paid on 11/19/14.4-We have always and continue to send all beneficiaries our monthly invoices, updated register reports, and, as they become available, copies of bank statements. Therefore, her statement that we do not provide her documentation is incorrect. In fact, as an extra step not usually the norm, we haveprepared a spreadsheet detailing all pending trust items, the status of each, what still needs to be done, and an estimated time frame for completion. In addition, the spreadsheet includes an inventory detailing the cash value of the trust items, and a disbursement schedule. This spreadsheet is being updated and emailed to all beneficiaries weekly.5-We are sorry that the beneficiary feels we are keeping information from her, that we are making excuses or that we do not know what we are doing. We have many years of experience, and we have handled many trusts, so we are very aware trust is an important factor in our industry and in dealing with clients. Even though she is rude in her communication with us, we are working very hard to gain her trust by doing everything possible to accommodate her and the other beneficiaries' request. This includes being honest and truthful when we cannot handle something as quickly as she expects it to be handled, or if we admit to inadvertently providing incorrect information. Unfortunately,the beneficiary has an unfounded belief that the trust would be settled in a matter of months, when in reality the norm is a minimum of a year from the date of initiation of service. In fact, it has not even been a year since the date of death of the Trustor on 4/8/14.6-She states that we had no idea what to do about handling the dividing of the investments, so the beneficiaries had to come up with a plan to divide the bonds. As mentioned previously, the fastest, least complicated and least expensive method to distribute estate funds is to liquidate everything and distribute the cash to the beneficiaries. The request from the beneficiaries was to distribute andtransfer without liquidating any investments even when the bonds were not similar in value,rate,class or number. Because the [redacted] broker could not proceed without direction, the Certified Public Accountant for the trust offered, for a price,to develop a plan for the beneficiaries' review to distribute all bonds as evenly as possible without liquidating any of them. This is when the beneficiaries decided it was acceptable and more cost effective to distribute the evenly distributable bonds and liquidate the odd numbered bonds. It was not that we did not know what to do. It was about accommodating their wish of transferring all or most of the investments instead of liquidating them, and having the beneficiaries,satisfied with the outcome.7-ln response to her statement on desired settlement, we respond that we have been and areaccountable, we are being truthful and transparent, and we have provided them all that has been requested from us. This includes the weekly status reports, invoices and bank statements. In fact, we are compiling a packet that will include copies of what has been previously provided. In addition, it will include copies of every single document processed to date on behalf of the trust,such as copies of all invoices paid and deposits. We will periodically continue providing register reports that reflect these later two items and the cash on hand. An official accounting will be prepared after the year for tax purposes and a copy will be provided to all beneficiaries as well. If we agree to pay any penalties for missed dates, these will be based on standard time frames for handling trusts, not illusory completion dates. At this time, we are on schedule and completing the trust administration as quickly as possible, given multiple beneficiaries and multiple assets and accounts with which we must work.Thank you for bringing her complaint to our attention. It has given us an opportunity to respond to her allegations which we believe are unfounded.Sincerely,
[redacted], CLPF
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
This response from Ms [redacted] is typical of our previous dealings with her. There is a lot of information included which is irrelevant "fluff" and not addressing the basic issues. This response continues to avoid the issues of accountability from her. Any information, especially her "weekly" accounting reports had to be "rudely" demanded. She makes it sound as if she has been happily providing information to us in weekly reports which is simply not true. The asking and asking and prodding and the escalation to near force to have progress and future plans information given to us have not been acknowledged. No information was provided to us openly, willingly or regularly. We were ignored and/or given a multitude of reasons why giving us weekly updates was simply not going to happen. We have received approximately three sporadically spaced "weekly" reports.
Also, according to our original dealings with [redacted], specifically[redacted], our father's trusted broker and professional business person, this was an easily done process which could be completed in two to three months and certainly could be accomplished well before the end of the year. Ms [redacted] was in agreement with this and committed to a completion date of 12/31/2014. This date has not been honored. Now out of the blue she states that this is unreasonable and she needs at least a year. I just found this out in her letter to Revdex.com. When was she going to tell us? This is typical of her pattern of leaving us in the dark and then trying to make us look stupid. We were told by her that all would be completed by the end of the year for tax reasons. This is not my idea of trustworthy or reliable. It feels more like ineptness and dishonesty.
As for the invoices, more smoke and mirrors. We never saw an actual INVOICE with a due date and were surely not asked to review or okay said "invoice". Does a sporadic burst of accountability shown on a spreadsheet qualify to somehow be this alleged invoice? Yet, I kept asking for invoices and received none.
According to the date of her letter, she should have known that all four accounts have been established at [redacted], yet she takes a stab at me by saying mine is not. I've actually had one since June 2014, but now I have another.
It would be nice if Ms [redacted] would admit to her shortcomings, change her defensive stance and try to do a better job. I have not enjoyed being forced to be assertive to get information that should have been freely shared. This has become a most distasteful experience because of her attitude. Now I see that she expects more time to do more of the same bluffing and fabricating, meanwhile still helping herself to money that is not hers to take.
I very much look forward to the end of this relationship. I feel it needs to be known by future clientele.
Regards,
[redacted]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
The response from Premiere Fiduciaries is childish and mostly untrue. My brothers will attest to the fact that we were not receiving ANY feedback for weeks and weeks although it was repeatedly requested. Premiere Fiduciaries has NOT been forthcoming and quite frankly refused and gave excuses for all requests until I had to become more assertive. Their avoidance created suspicion regarding their ability. We could not get a plan or commitment from them to keep us updated. The constant asking and being refused has been exhausting.
Now, Premiere Fiduciaries is trying to make it look like "their client" is the problem. How can that be? All we have wanted from the beginning was to be updated at least weekly. Any "misunderstanding" should have been handled in a professional manner. I resent being singled out for being persistent. Premiere Fiduciaries is finally being more cooperative, even to the point of being ridiculous. Finally sending mountains of paperwork to make up for their previous refusal does not negate the fact that it was refused to us for so long. There were plenty of things mailed to me that were NEVER emailed. On the issue of being unable to open attachments, why could they not be sent correctly? For one invoice which was finally sent, it came corrupted at least three times. To blame me is unacceptable. (I worked on proprietary software for may years and probably have more understanding of how things work.) The problem has not been on the receiving end of this scenario, although Premiere Fiduciaries would like to think that is the case.
I come from the business world and have been appalled with this company's stubbornness, surliness and unprofessional behavior. Where I come from you give the customer what they want. You are employed by them and expected to be accountable. Premiere Fiduciaries is "guilty" of all of the things I profess. They are not being truthful, repentant or responsible.
Regards,
[redacted]