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 […]
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 […]
This is it! Our finale Trust and Will myth, and it may be the biggest, most damaging, myth of them all. Can you be disinherited for challenging the Trustee’s management decisions? Watch this video to find out more.
Will your Trustee be subject to criminal prosecution for failing to follow the Trust terms or Trust law? Probably not, but then again…. In this video we discuss whether the actions of your Trustee are criminal.
So who is in charge of overseeing your Trustee if that person chooses to violate the law and breach his or her fiduciary duties? Surely there is some governmental agency that will step in and hold that bad Trustee accountable…isn’t there? The truth is that there is no governmental authority that oversees that acts of […]
If a Trustee breaches a duty, what is the amount for which they are liable? The answer may surprise you. Basically, the Trustee is chargeable with three things: (1) any loss or depreciation in value incurred by the Trust, (2) any profit made by the Trustee, and (3) any profit that would have been made […]
Under California Probate Code section 15800, a Trustee of a revocable Trust only owes duties to the person who has the power to revoke, so long as that person is living and has capacity. That means if you are the beneficiary under a revocable Trust, you do not have the rights normally given to Trust […]
Beneficiaries should not have to take court action to enforce their rights under a Trust, but so often they do have to take action. Even though a beneficiary has no duties, they do have the burden on enforcing their rights when a Trustee refuses to do the right thing. In this video, partner Keith Davidson […]
Although it is difficult to remove a Bay Area Trustee for breach of trust, it can be done. I explain further in the video below on the reasons California law allows a probate court to remove a bad acting Trustee.
Most Bay Area Trustees do not understand the duties they owe Trust beneficiaries. In many cases these Trustees take adversarial positions towards the Trust beneficiaries, which is not allowed under California law. What are the duties that Trustees owe beneficiaries under California law? Glad you asked. In the video below I explain:
