If a Trustee commits a breach of Trust, or threatens to do so, California law allows a beneficiary or a co-Trustee to take action. What action can you take? That depends on the type of breach committed. Under Probate Code section 16420, the court is authorized to take the following actions: Compel the Trustee to perform his […]
Statutes of limitations are the deadlines by which you must file a lawsuit. We are seeing more and more people miss the filing deadline in the California Trust and Will Litigation arena. We think the reason this is occurring is because the statutes of limitations for Trust and Will issues are complicated. There is not […]
Does a beneficiary have to sign a release? Under Probate Code section 16004.5, a Trustee cannot require a beneficiary to sign a release in exchange for making a distribution of Trust assets, provided that the Trust distribution is required to be made as stated in the Trust document. For example, if you are entitled to […]
If you have a bad Trustee who mismanaged assets, misappropriated them, or just stole them, you may be wondering how to find the money. That is a good question, and not always easy to answer. Of course, much depends on how the money was taken, or whether the money was ever part of the Trust to begin […]
There are a few exceptions to a Trustee’s duty to provide you with a Trust accounting no matter what type of beneficiary you happen to be. Where the Trust Document Waives an Accounting. If the Trust document waives an accounting, then a Trustee does not have to provide an accounting. This is an important exception, so […]
You are entitled to an accounting…maybe…depends. The truth is some beneficiaries are entitled to an accounting as a matter of right, while other beneficiaries may obtain an accounting at the discretion of the Court, but not as a matter of right. Right to Reasonable Information For starters, all beneficiaries are entitled to reasonable information from the […]
Some firms say their goal is to be (or become) the “premier firm” in whatever field they happen to practice. I think this is a terrible goal, and I’ve never really understood it. How do you know if you’re the “premier” firm, what does “premier” even mean? That’s not our goal. The problem with wanting to be […]
Don’t you believe it. This may be one of the oldest arguments in the book. Siblings often argue that whatever mom and dad gave you during life belongs to the estate. Or a closely related argument: we are going to count your lifetime gifts against your share of the estate. It really is all the same thing, siblings hate […]
Unique Nature of Trust Ownership It all comes down to the unique nature of Trusts. When a person creates a Trust they are effectively separating the legal ownership from the beneficial ownership of the assets. We don’t usually think about these two different aspects of ownership because, in every other context, they are one in the […]
Who has the right to challenge a Will, or a Trust for that matter? To challenge a Will or a Trust in California, the person filing the Trust or Will contest lawsuit must have legal standing to do so. The concept of standing has evolved from centuries of jurisprudence, first in England and then adopted […]
