Video Posts

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…

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…

When you hire a lawyer on contingency, that means that you are paying the lawyer a percentage of whatever is recovered. You essentially are making that lawyer a partner with you in your case.  It’s no different in a lot of ways from having a business partner. Except now your…

It’s not very often that people talk about philosophies of attorneys.  But if you look at a spectrum of attorneys, you’re going to find that different attorneys have different philosophies in terms of how they approach cases.  They have different viewpoints. They have different ideas on how a case should…

A trustee is the Trust manager, the person who calls the shots. But the trustee has limits on what they can do with the Trust property. The trustee cannot do whatever they want. They must follow the trust document, and follow the California Probate Code. More than that, Trustees don’t get…

A Trust beneficiary is the person who will enjoy the assets of the Trust. In legal jargon, trust and will attorneys refer to Trust beneficiaries as the “equitable owners” of the Trust. Beneficiaries will receive money and other assets from the Trust either outright (meaning being paid all at once)…

How does a trustee resign? That depends on the terms stated in the trust document. Most trusts will have a provision that describes how a Trustee may resign from acting as Trustee. In most cases, the Trustee will give written notice of their resignation to the Trust beneficiaries and to…

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.   If the…

If you ask any Trust beneficiary, they will tell you that closing a Trust administration is easy. The Trustee gives the beneficiaries all the assets, and they all live happily ever after. But Trustees often see the end of the Trust with far more reservation because of their potential future…

One of the most common questions we receive from clients is: “how do we freeze the Trust assets?” After all, when you file a Trust contest, aren’t all the Trust assets frozen until the case is resolved? The answer is no. That rarely occurs. It sounds surprising, we know, but…