Sometimes there is a disconnect between lawyers and clients on how likely they believe the case is to succeed, and the monetary value of the case. Why? Litigants typically don’t think of their case in terms of monetary value. Litigants think of their case as a set of bad, often hurtful facts that led them […]
What do you do when a trustee refuses to give you the financial documents you are entitled to as a beneficiary? Isn’t the trustee required to give you financial information? The answer is simple: YES. The trustee has a duty to keep beneficiaries reasonably informed about the trust administration and assets. If you request financial […]
What happens when you enter into a settlement agreement and the other party refuses to comply with the terms? There are provisions you can put into your settlement agreement to help you enforce that settlement agreement in the future. A settlement agreement is a contract. Contracts are enforceable. Most settlement agreements are solid documents. The […]
How do you prove your case? If you are trying to invalidate a Trust or Will, you have the burden of proof, which is the legal obligation to prove your allegations in court. You must come to court with admissible evidence. Not all evidence is admissible in court. Certain types of evidence are inadmissible, which […]
You’re entitled to a distribution and you should receive it within a reasonable time. Typically, trust beneficiaries expect to receive their inheritance in a year or less, depending on the complexities of the estate. Dealing with a Non-Compliant Trustee What happens when your Trustee won’t follow the terms of the Trust? Why aren’t they following […]
Are you having a hard time receiving your inheritance? You are a named beneficiary of a trust and you are entitled to an inheritance. You should just be handed your share of the money… right? Yet a year has passed, maybe several… and you still have not received your inheritance. Why is it so hard […]
Three words: burden of proof. You have it and the other side does not. If you put on your case in a Trust contest and fail to meet your burden of proof, you lose. Losing is your default position. Winning is the default position of your opponent. They don’t have to put on a case. They […]
Let’s start with a basic premise of Trust and Will law: children are not entitled to inherit anything. Parents have the right to disinherit a child, provided that, the decision to disinherit is their own. In other words, if someone else forces that decision on the parent, that is wrong. But if the parent freely […]
If you are trying to overturn a Trust or Will (or an amendment to a Trust or Will), you will find that your relationship with the decedent is going to be a big issue in your case. But what does it matter if you had a good relationship with the decedent? Legal Grounds for Overturning […]
Formal accountings can take up a lot of your time. When we say “formal accounting” we are referring to a Trust accounting that is prepared according to the format rules of the Probate Code (section 1060) and filed with the court to court approval. Why do formal accountings take so long to resolve? First, it […]
