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My mother passed away in July she had a living trust. Left her ranch to me my sister and brother. My brother passed away 5 days after my mother. In trust it says if a beneficiary passes away within 30 days of my death their part gets split between living beneficiaries. My brother had no wife or children, do we need to still go to probate court? How do we get our names put on deed of ranch? Do we go to county office with death certificates and trust papers to change deed? Also my sister is trustee and doesn't want to separate the land on the ranch. Can she do that? There is 20 acres and we both get 10 acres. I would like to have my 10 in my name only but she doesn't want to split land up.
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The purpose of a Living Trust in California is to avoid Probate. If your mom left a Trust behind, the assets will need to be distributed as per the directions in the Trust. This means that the ownership of the asset would change from the decedent to the beneficiaries.
Your best option is to take the Trust to an estate planning attorney who can distribute it correctly. An attorney charges a minimal fee and can answer your questions as well.
Since your sister is the Trustee--she would be the one to take it to an attorney for distribution. If she does not want to do this, then you may have to hire your own attorney to force the issue.
Answered on Nov 22nd, 2013 at 5:29 PM