Did you know that being disinherited may not be the only way you could lose your inheritance? Sure, you could just be excluded from the trust or the will and thereby be disinherited: that’s the first and most obvious way you could lose your inheritance. But there are more subtle ways in which you may […]
If you are a beneficiary of a Trust in California, you have legal rights. Below is a list of some of a California Trust beneficiary’s basic rights. Obtain Copies of Trust Documents Trust beneficiaries are entitled to receive copies of the Trust documents. Beneficiaries should receive copies of the Trust when either: The Trust (or […]
You must have evidence if you want to win at trial. But what is evidence? There are three types of evidence: facts, witnesses, and documents. And most facts will be introduced at trial through either a witness or a document, or sometimes both. Evidence further comes in two broad varieties: direct and circumstantial. Direct evidence […]
If you are a party to a Trust lawsuit will your case help all the Trust beneficiaries? The answer is a definite maybe. There are times when your lawsuit could help other beneficiaries that did not join the case, but there are also times when the non-participating beneficiaries could be left out in the cold. […]
Bad Trustees can be held liable for the harms and losses they cause to a Trust, but not criminally. We have written about this topic many times before, but it always seems to come up with clients and potential clients. Beneficiaries want their bad Trustees to be criminally liable for their breaches of Trust. It will […]
How do you hire an attorney when you need help dealing with a bad Trustee? Trustees have access to all the Trust resources, while beneficiaries do not. As a beneficiary, you cannot withdraw money from a Trust bank account to pay for legal services. So what are you to do? You have two choices: (1) […]
The old switcher-oo can happen to just about anyone. That’s where the old Trust is abandoned for a new Trust. And the new Trust has entirely new provisions that leave everything to the bad actor. For example, let’s say your oldest brother has decided that he should receive the entire estate. Your father passed away […]
There’s a lot beneficiaries can do to set things right, but it’s not as easy as you may think. Often beneficiaries will say “isn’t the Trustee breaking the law?” The answer is yes, but who is going to stand up and hold the Trustee responsible for breaking his or her duties as a Trustee? The […]
Challenging a Trust or a Trust amendment is hard work, but it can be made even harder if you cling to irrelevant myths that will not help you win your case. We want to start by dispelling a few myths before we actually get into the nitty-gritty of how to contest trust or trust amendment. […]
I want to welcome you to The Big Challenge. We’ve done a lot of videos over the years where we talk about things like lack of capacity, undue influence. These are legal grounds for overturning a trust or a trust amendment. But we’ve never put together a comprehensive course that goes from start to finish. […]
