California Trust Attorney
Trust attorneys at Mayo & Mayo can represent you as the successor trustee of a decedent’s trust with California trust administration and all of the statutory legal requirements. If you are a beneficiary of a Trust we can contact the trustee or their attorney to ensure you receive your beneficiary gift in a timely manner. A revocable, also called a revocable trust until the Trustor dies at which point the Trust becomes irrevocable.
Free initial consultation – call 415-397-1515 in San Francisco Bay Area or 310-488-5310 in Los Angeles and Santa Monica.
If you are the successor trustee, our California lawyer will guide you through the California required legal notices to the beneficiaries, notices related to sale of real property and trust accounting. As real estate attorneys, we can also assist in the sale of real property and date of death appraisals for tax filings. As a certified mediator, Mary Mayo has extensive experience resolving disputes with your family members. If necessary, we can represent you as Successor Trustee in court if you have been served with a petition to remove trustee.
If you are a Trust beneficiary, our California trust lawyers can file a petition to remove the trustee and compel a trust accounting. It’s important that the trustee expeditiously sell decedent’s real property, liquidate assets and distribute to the beneficiaries. Taxes, creditors and specific bequests must be paid first from the Trust before any residuary distribution to a Trust beneficiary.
We work closely with you as the client to expedite the many details unique to an expeditious closure and distribution of the trust estate to the beneficiaries. Your questions will always be answered promptly and thoroughly. Call with your questions – 415-397-1515 or 310-488-5310
1. Trust Law – Administration, Trustee Duties, Distribution
2. Trust Litigation and Beneficiary Disputes
1. Trust Law
Trust Administration
A Living Trust becomes an irrevocable trust at the Trustor’s death. A power of attorney is no longer legally effective. The successor Trustee is in control of the estate but must report to the beneficiaries and distribute a Trust in a timely manner. Trust law provides that if all of the estate property is held in the family trust there is no need to file a probate with the probate court. If some assets were not funded or titled into the Trust, we can file a Heggstad petition to request the Court retroactively title the asset into the Trust.
Our California estate attorneys will first determine if the property in the trust includes all of the trust estate. If there is a home in the trust that is still in the name of the deceased parent, a court petition can be filed to request the probate court to put the property into the trust to avoid a full probate.
If there is no real estate in decedent’s estate then there is a possibility a small estate affidavit can be used to collect the bank accounts and brokerage accounts.
First, the trustee must prepare and send out the statutory notice and record a change in Trustee. Copies of the estate plan documents are provided to everyone mentioned in the Trust. Once the assets have been transferred to a new Trust bank account, the creditors are paid. Unless there is a specific bequest to the contrary, the estate is liquidated including sale of real property. Our Los Angeles and San Francisco attorneys will work with you to properly administer the Trust, provide all required notices and accounting and recommend a CPA to assist you with the tax filings.
What is a Trustee For and What are the Trustee’s Duties?
The trustee’s responsibilities are set forth in the probate code, including the form of the accounting and other duties such as notice to the beneficiaries of the time limit they have to file a trust contest. The Trust itself determines who is a trustee in a trust and if you are named as a successor trustee you may decline to serve as trustee by providing a written resignation letter to all beneficiaries and to the successor trustee next in line after you. The trustee is entitled to reasonable trustee fees and both the trustee fees and the attorney fees are paid from the Trust estate. The executor of a Will has limited duties when there is a Trust unless there are specific provisions in the Will or minor children where a guardian is named. The trust lawyers at Mayo & Mayo can prepare all of the required notices, accounting and other legal advice to the trustee since most trustees are not professional trustees and need the assistance of an attorney to properly administer the Trust and avoid hopefully litigation with the beneficiaries.
When Should the Trustee Distribute the Trust to the Beneficiaries?
Even if the Trust does not specify a time within which the Trust property is to be distributed, trust law dictates that the Trust estate be distributed within a reasonable time from the date of death of the Trustor unless there are specific instructions to distribute part of the Trust over time or conditions that need to be met. Starting right away to properly administer the Trust is the only approach, even if the trustees have delayed up to this point. Delay often results in litigation and claims for breach of fiduciary duty against the trustee and makes it more difficult to prepare the trust accounting.
Estate Taxes
Estate tax liability is based on the size of the estate and the year of decedent’s death. For example, if the decedent died in 2023, there is no estate tax filing requirement for estates valued at $12,920,000 for a single person and an exemption of $25,840,000 for a married couple. The exemption expires in 2026 unless Congress acts to extend. We can explain in more detail and you can also review the IRS website. http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Estate-Tax
If Certain Assets Were Not Funded Into the Trust
If the decedent had a Trust but all of the assets such as real estate were not recorded or funded as property in the Trust estate as of the date of death, our trust estate attorneys can file a Heggstad petition with the probate court to request that the Judge enter an order to transfer those omitted assets to the Trust as though the property had been transferred prior to death. This enables the assets to be included as trust property and avoid a full court proceeding to probate those assets. Whether or not the Judge will enter such an Order depends on the language in the individual trust and the County in California in which the Heggstad petition is filed.
2. Beneficiary Litigation and Disputes
If the trustee of a trust does not comply with trust law then the beneficiaries may file a petition in the probate court to remove the trustee, request a full accounting and immediate distribution to the beneficiaries. The beneficiaries can also ask that the Trustee pay damages to the beneficiaries for delay, breach of fiduciary duty and other problems caused by the Trustee. The trustee generally has broad decision making power, however, extreme delay or misconduct is not permitted. Our California trust litigators can represent either the trustee or the non-trustee beneficiary of a Trust and have extensive experience litigating trust disputes and trust contests. San Francisco Bay Area call 415-397-1515 or Los Angeles, California 310-488-5310.
3. Creditor Claims
If you are a creditor and the Trustee of the Trust is not paying your creditor claim, the estate lawyers at Mayo & Mayo can represent your interests. In order to minimize your legal fees, Mayo & Mayo will attempt to negotiate a compromise for all parties first before commencing litigation, however, if litigation is required, we have extensive experience litigating creditor claims.
4. Mediation
Mary Mayo is a trust lawyer and a certified mediator proficient in mediating disputes between the beneficiaries and trustee, representing either the Trustee or the beneficiary in an estate dispute.