Petition for an accounting of a trust’s funds; MCL 700.7814; “Distributee” (MCL 700.1103(o)); “Qualified trust beneficiary” (MCL 700.7103(g)); “Nonqualified trust beneficiary”

Holding that both appellants were permissible distributees under the trust at issue, and qualified trust beneficiaries, the court reversed the part of the trial court’s order that denied their request for an accounting and remanded “for entry of an order directing the trustees to provide an accounting” complying with MCL 700.7814(3)’s requirements. By its own terms, the trust (an educational trust) was to terminate in 2021. Appellees, two of its three trustees, petitioned the trial court for instructions as to termination of the trust and distribution of its residue. Appellants, “who were applicants for financial assistance during the life of the Trust, did not object to” its termination, but they petitioned “for a full accounting of the Trust’s funds, claiming such accounting was never received during the life of the Trust. Concluding appellants were ‘qualified trust applicants’ but not ‘qualified trust beneficiaries,’ the trial court denied the request.” On appeal, the court agreed with them that they were entitled to an accounting. They were both “permitted, but not entitled to, distributions from the Trust,” and as a result were permissible distributees under MCL 700.7418. Further, they “are ‘trust beneficiaries’ under MCL 700.7103(l)(i) because they have a contingent present or future beneficial interest in the Trust.” The court determined that their “interest was contingent, and not vested, because their request for assistance had to be approved by the trustees.” As such, they were entitled under MCL 700.7814(3) to “receive ‘a report of the trust property, liabilities, receipts, and disbursements, including the source and amount of the trustee’s compensation, a listing of the trust property and, if feasible, their respective market values . . . .’” While they received some bank records, there was no dispute that they “did not receive, at minimum, the ‘disbursements’ made by the trustees to other financial-assistance applicants.”