California trust law creates a hierarchy among beneficiaries. That means not all beneficiaries are equal. Some beneficiaries outrank others. Some beneficiaries have better rights than other beneficiaries. Current Beneficiaries The starting point is current beneficiaries, people who are named now who are supposed to be receiving something out of the trust. That’s what we call a […]
Beneficiary deeds are a fairly new creation, under California law. A beneficiary transfer deed allows you to file something with the County Recorder’s Office that says, in effect, “After my death, I want my property to pass to my stated beneficiary.” It’s kind of like a beneficiary designation on a life insurance policy or a […]
Ok, so you’re a beneficiary and you just did a title search on the asset that’s in the trust and you find that it’s in the name of the trustee, who is your older brother perhaps. And you say, “Wait a minute. Why is the title to the trust asset in my older brother’s name? Isn’t that […]
So you find yourself as a trustee of a trust and you have to make expenditures out of that trust. And the question is, “What are appropriate expenditures?” Well, let’s first talk about what your basic and primary job is a trustee and that is, as a trustee, you’re going to collect all the assets […]
So this happens from time to time where a trustee is the trustee of a trust that owns real property such as a house or a cabin or vacation home and there are beneficiaries of that trust who ultimately will inherit the VALUE of that property. And the reason I say the VALUE of that property […]
In most cases, if a trust has bills that it has to pay or debts that have to be paid off, those things will be paid out of the trust estate by the trustee. One of the trustee’s jobs is to pay for all the expenses and debts of the trust estate. Trust Beneficiaries Do […]
You may find this surprising, but in California, children do not have an automatic right to inherit their parents’ assets. And you’re not alone – a lot of people are surprised about that. They’ll call up our office saying a bad actor changed the Will or the Trust and somebody else is getting the assets, […]
There’s a difference between the lawyer who represents the Trust that you’re a Beneficiary of and the lawyer that represents Beneficiaries. A very big difference. And the reason there is sometimes confusion is because somebody becomes the Beneficiary of their parents’ Trust and they believe they can call the attorney who’s handling the Trust Administration […]
Should a Trustee have one or two attorneys that represents them in a litigated trust matter? Let me give an example. You have a Trustee after Mom and Dad have passed away and the Trustee is administering the Trust as the Trust terms state. But, maybe the Trustee’s brother and sister don’t agree with the things that […]
When the time comes to distribute assets to Trust beneficiaries, there are a number of ways to do so. When a Trust consists solely of cash, then the distribution is easy. The Trustee can write a few checks, make the Trust distribution, and end the Trust administration. How to Distribute Trust Assets to Beneficiaries Outright […]
