I was always told that the business would be divided by my husband one brother. I felt secure enough in that, that I continued working all these years (38) and paid for basically everything (kids college, apts, utilities, expenses, A/C replacement in our house, remodeling of bathrooms, kitchen etc etc). I always thought it would equal out in the end. His mom passed away four years ago and just the other day I found that all her assets would be put into a generation skipping trust and that the company that I thought would be half and put into our retirement is now just 50 % split between him and his brother and the other half (split again between him and a brother) would go into a trust that you could use but not above the principal and if he died it would to go my children. I am super hurt and frustrated by this. I do not want to depend on my kids as I get older. I also must add my husband wants to now retire at 62 and draw from our retirement.. Am I missing something. While I understand my mother in law still had the rights to the co. that may I add my husband and his brother ran for years (25+) paying her a yearly salary but now I do not even benefit from any of this (not expecting any land, property, stocks that were held by mother in law but I did expect to benefit from my husband portion of the co. for my retirement but it appears that we only can have 25% of his portion and the other portion goes into the trust. What am I missing?
I agree, you need a lawyer to at least explain what all this means. If your husband dies before brother, does brother get full trust?
When you say your husband wants to now draw from "our" retirement, are you still working? How are yours and his retirement funds held -- is everything joint, or do you have separate accounts?
What I'm getting at is, is the problem here primarily with what your MIL did, or is the problem now with your husband? Does he understand that you consider this unfair and want to make it up to you somehow, or is he cavalier about your concerns?
Go to Bogleheads.org which is an open financial forum. Or better yet, get a consultation with a financial planner so that you understand what happened and what will most likely happen in the future.
The error you made was to work off of an assumption. Now you need to work off of actual facts and laws. Get professional advice, it will be worth the fee. Otherwise you are driving blind.