Once in a while, we do see trustees giving away money from a trust to people who aren’t actually named beneficiaries of the trust. To this day, I have no idea why they do it. Misappropriation of Trust Funds by Trustee The situations in which we normally see this is when the trustee is a […]
Ok, so you’re a beneficiary and you just did a title search on the asset that’s in the trust and you find that it’s in the name of the trustee, who is your older brother perhaps. And you say, “Wait a minute. Why is the title to the trust asset in my older brother’s name? Isn’t that […]
In some instances, a trust document will give a beneficiary the power to remove the trustee. The first thing you should do is take a look at your trust document. Look through the trustee provision and see if there is a provision for removing the trustee. A removal provision would say something to the effect that you, as the […]
We get this question routinely. We have Beneficiaries of a Trust come to us and say, “My brother or sister is the Trustee of the Trust and they’re saying they’re going to take $150,000 in Trustee’s fees. Is that allowed?” And the answer is, “Well, it depends.” And, of course, it depends on the facts and circumstances in 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 liability. You see, Trustees don’t want […]
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 let us explain a bit […]
If you were to crack open a copy of the California Probate Code and start reading from Section 16000 onward, you would find pages of rules discussing the duties of a California Trustee. The first duty, listed at Section 16000, is one of the most important: do what the Trust document tells you to do. […]
Can a trustee be removed as trustee of a trust? Yes, but it is difficult to remove a trustee. Generally, you must have an evidentiary hearing, which is a trial. It takes time to remove a Trustee. You must go through the litigation process from start to finish before a trial can take place. The […]
The duty of loyalty is one of the most basic, and important, trustee duties (Probate Code section 16002). At its core, the duty of loyalty requires the Trustee to administer the trust solely in the interest of the beneficiaries. That means the Trustee must do what is right for the beneficiaries in all situations. Duty of Loyalty […]
Can a trustee loan money to a trust? There are times when a Trust may be land-rich, but cash-poor. Or maybe the Trust owns a business, financial investments, or any other type of asset that cannot be easily sold. How does the Trustee pay bills and expenses when there is no cash to pay from? […]
