A bank invested my fathers trust for 30 yrs and only made 10% in that time. Do I have any recourse?

Question

A bank invested my fathers trust for 30 yrs and only made 10% in that time. Do I have any recourse?

Answer 1

Only if the contract guarantees a set rate or a benchmark, such as a minimum of the Consumer Price Index or half the Dow Industrial Average.  Most likely, they earned higher rates then deducted for their services.  Still, the result is so low, you might be able to negotiate something after investing a lot of time complaining how they were trusted, yet failed to even come close to keeping up with inflation.  Even if they had just put the money in 1-5 year CD's, the return would have been conservatively low, but still probably would have more than doubled.  The rule of 72, when divided by 30 years, says it would have taken just 2.4% interest to double in 30 years.  With low interest rates today, the 1 year CD's are still paying 3-4%.  Putting all the funds in CD's is easy and should not require any trust management fees.  Be sure to complain to at least one person and then at least their supervisor.

Answer 2

Unless it had a guaranteed return in a contract, no.

Answer 3

You need a lawyer.