California Trusts Legal Questions

Dear Jayne, A revocable trust would allow you to modify or amend the trust as the trustee of the revocable trust. An irrevocable trust is designed to not allow for any changes or amendments without court intervention. If your goal is to be able to change the trust I would have an attorney create a revocable trust which would allow your kids as beneficiaries to receive from your assets after a designated time in accordance with your wishes. Sincerely, Amanda... Read More

Without seeing the wording of the trust, and being able to understand why the "withdrawal agreement" is needed, I don't think any attorney could confidently answer this question. It was probably a mistake for your mother to terminate her relationship with her estate planning attorney, without replacing that attorney with another one, until all actions needed to amend her trust were completed.... Read More

If your brother's name was on the account, it is legally his. I'm confused as to what you mean "we didn't have time to change it over." After your father's death, there were no options. Even during your father's life, if your brother's name was actually on the account (as opposed to being a beneficiary at your father's death), your father couldn't have changed the account without your brother's agreement. It is possible that your father intended your brother to have that account, and you to have everything else.... Read More

You can do anything you want with your property. I would recommend, though, that if you want to disinherit the beneficiary who has already stolen from you, that you have your trust amended to do that.  Giving your house to the other beneficiary now subjects your home to that beneficiary's creditors, and gives them your basis in the house. What that means is that if they sell the home, they will have to pay a lot of capital gains taxes. Besides that, if the beneficiary is not your child, the property taxes will go up upon the transfer.... Read More

I would suggest sending a certified letter to her at her mother's address, telling her to cease and desist from having mail sent to your mother's address, and telling her you will have any mail sent to your mother's address returned "addressee unknown." As trustee, you should change the locks and instruct your brother not to let her stay in the home. I think your gutl instinct is correct -- she may well attempt to claim a right to reside in the home after your mother passes. ... Read More

The presumption is that a joint account belongs to the surviving joint account holder. That presumption can be overcome if it can be shown that the other holder was just put on for convenience. That is usually shown by showing that all the funds in the account came from the older person. In your case, you can apparently show that you put your own funds in the account also, which gives you a stronger case. In any event, the trustee has no authority over the account, since it was not in the trust. If the trustee is also the executor, she may attempt to fight to gain control of the account. You have to decide whether you want to fight about this. If it had all been your dad's money, I would have encouraged you to voluntarily split the funds with other beneficiaries.... Read More

Trusts are not documented anywhere other than in the document itself. If she has a home, and it was deeded into the trust, that would be in the county recorder's files. If that hasn't been done, you should make sure it's done before her death. Otherwise, you will have to do at least a limited probate to take care of things.... Read More

The trustee can ask you to give back money if unexpected expenses happen, such as the IRS auditing the decedent's taxes and demanding payment of back taxes, or someone coming out of nowhere claiming to be an omitted heir, requiring the trustee to go to court to fight them.  If the trustee asked you to give back some money to help with those expenses, you would be legally required to give back what was demanded. These situations don't happen that often, but the takeaway is don't spend your entire inheritance right away. Keep some in reserve.... Read More

That depends. If your parents left the money for Kathy in a trust, and named you and Mary as trustees, then you are co-trustees, unless you can talk Mary into resigning. I assume that money is in a special needs trust. If it is not, you need to meet with an attorney and make that happen. The court appointed you and your wife as conservators. If they made you conservator of her person, you can make her medical and housing decisions. Being conservator of her estate gives you control of her finances; but those finances do not include funds held in trust.  If she has public benefits, you have or need to get authority as her representative payee. The three roles are separate: trustee, representative payee, and conservator.... Read More

No, that would be a violation of your duties as power of attorney. A power of attorney can only act in the interests of the person they're acting for. Doing documents that give away his half of community property is not acting in his interests. You have two legally valid choices: (1) wait until after his death, and then (assuming the properties are held as joint tenants) have a trust drafted disposing of the property as you wish; or (2) file a petition for substituted judgment requesting to do a trust with the terms you state. Frankly, option #2 is a long shot. You would need strong written proof that your husband's wishes, when he could speak for himself, was for your children and not his siblings to inherit.... Read More

You have 60 days after you have received a copy of the trust to contest. They should have also given you an official 60-day notice to quit, which must be personally served. I don’t know what your mother wanted; if you’re not disabled, perhaps she wanted you to learn to support yourself.... Read More

It's not clear WHO this "someone" is. If your mother had a will, and if the named executor knows she has died, then that person should begin administration. If you, as a person who lived with her, know where the will is, YOU should lodge it with the court and locate the named executor. If she didn't have a will or a trust, then anyone can file for a probate (if her assets are sufficient to require a probate) to get authority to distribute her assets.... Read More

No one can answer that without meeting with you and reviewing the trust. In general, though, an attorney who did not draft the original trust will need to do a full restatement of that trust. If they did an amendment, they would end up responsible for every single word that is in the original trust, and for every single provision that should have been in the original trust and wasn't. ... Read More

This is one of the MANY reasons why people shouldn't leave life estates to people without a lengthy document specifying rights and obligations. If the will did not specify, generally the life tenant is responsible for taxes, insurance and routine maintenance. But if no rights of inspection were spelled out in the will, you are pretty much on your own. The life tenant has the right to the full use and enjoyment of the property. Unless a separate writing gave you the right, you have no right to enter onto the property. Certainly I would recommend checking regularly on the status of property taxes, to be sure the property doesn't end up in a tax sale. You could also drive by periodically. But if you want to do an inspection, and if the life tenant doesn't voluntarily allow it, you would have to go to court to try to force the inspection.... Read More

No, the parties must sign each document requiring verification. Photocopies of prior signatures are not valid. I'm not sure why this would be an issue for you. The parties themselves would have a reason to object if their attorney submitted documents without presenting those documents to them for signature prior to filing.... Read More