Can anyone help this lady?

Looking for suggestions from lawyers, charitable workers, etc.

I got an e-mail and a phone call today from a listener who is in a rather desperate situation. She financially supports her half-sister, who lives with her. Bottom line is, the woman who lives with her has a trust fund that she is unable to freely access, apparently because of the attorney who handles it.

The woman who wrote me the e-mail has a good job, meaning she doesn't qualify for most government assistance.. but her resources are being drained and she has had to go bankrupt because she supports her half-sister completely.

If anyone has any suggestions I can pass along to this lady, I would be extremely grateful! Following is the e-mail, with names deleted.

"Dear Cindy. My name is P_____. I was at the West Riverside Walmart, where your dj's are doing the radio promotion thing today (Sunday). I told them of this situation, and they suggested to contact you, while giving me your name, telephone number and email address. They also said, if you couldn't help, you might know someone who could help. Thank you for your time and attention.

At this festive time of year we all like to think that God's in his heaven and all's right with the world. It's not. My friend,[actually her half-sister] L____ and her son--who live with me, are living below the poverty line. In one of the sub-sub basements. She's looking for work, but without money for transportation(monthly bus pass), she'll be lucky to find any place willing to hire her.
(There are places that won't touch you for employment unless you CAN answer 'yes" to having reliable transportation)

L____ does have money but she'll never have direct access to it. She has a trust that was set up by her grandfather over a decade ago. I'm not sure how much its worth(nor do I really care). With a trust L____ will never have driect access to, she'll never qualify for any government assistance program, LIHEAP, or even food stamps.

When L____ isn't working, as now, I have and do totally support her and her son 100% financially.

L_____ has never been judged unfit to handle her own affairs, and the reasons for the trust set up as it is, can't be logically explained.

L_____ has a trustee by the name of attorney S_____ R____.

I can't say R_____ hasn't given her anything ever. Over the course of nearly ten years, when L_____ approaches , hat in hand, attorney R____has given L___ either checks in the precise bill amounts, or money in the precise bill amounts. But regular help for L____, from her trust, doesn't occur on a regular basis. Every time L____ has had to beg, she's had to wait around 3 weeks for an answer about a request. On a couple of occasions, L_____ has had to wait over a month for an answer to a request.

I"m not too sure about the conditions of the trust. But this is getting to a point beyond ridiculous.
It's a strange situation for L_____. She's a middle aged woman, seeking more employment and she has a trust, with which she should be able to pay bills regularly. But L____ has learned to be extremely patient when dealing with Rudy, and hope for a positive response to any request from the trust.

We had the gas shut off from May until September of this year. Even though we had been paying on it. The ONLY reason we got the gas back on,
is L____ begged a freind of hers in Michigan to loan the money to pay the gas bill.
Her friend is mailing her a copy of the paid Nicor receipt somettime this week.
(Lynn wnats the receipt for her own records, to keep track of the loan).

We're coming close to Christmas, and although L____ has requested money to pay for particular bills over the next several months, she knows, from experience, that she won't get an answer from R____ before Christmas.

The times that L_____ has requested money, it's always for the bills. It's not for spending money. I doubt if she's ever asked for spending money.

After years of watching Lynn go through requesting anything from attorney R____, I'm not holding my breath for a timely response for L____. This is just going to be a Christmas where L_____ can't pay for anything, will worry about if she'll be able to pay the upcoming bills, and she knows she won't be able to do something even vaguely special for her now nearly legally grown son. [Her son is 17.]

We have house repairs we need to make, like fixing a few roof leaks before they destroy the inside of our house. The water heater died and needs replacing. But all of our priorities right now are just to survive.

I've been forced to file bankruptcy this year. While I"m paying the legal fees from that, there will be even less money to support myself, much less help L____ and her son J_____.

Thank you for reading this."

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Again, any suggestions would be gratefully accepted. If you have any ideas, please e-mail me--you can click on my contact button on my sidebar.