In a major development in the Girardi & Keese fraud case, Christopher Kamon, the former CFO of Tom Girardi’s now-defunct law firm, recently pled guilty to two counts of wire fraud. This outcome wasn’t much of a surprise, as many had long suspected Kamon’s role in embezzling millions of dollars from the firm’s client trust […]
You may be surprised that a trustee can sell a home that is titled in the name of the trust without your consent. The trustee is the legal owner of the trust assets, they manage the trust assets, control them, and call all the shots. A trust beneficiary is the beneficial owner of the trust […]
Nothing is more troubling than a trustee who fails, or worse yet refuses, to account. The California Probate Code, along with most trust documents, require the trustee to account annually to the trust beneficiaries. The required trust accounting also must be in a set format outlined under Probate Code sections 1060 through 1063. The format […]
When it comes to trusts it can often seem like trustees are all powerful. But are they really? The answer may surprise you. So let’s discuss, how powerful is a trustee? On the one hand, trustees do have a tremendous amount of power over the trust and its assets. In legal terms, they are referred […]
Our podcast is newly rebranded! Introducing, Ask 2 Lawyers. The show will continue to cover a variety of interesting topics including legal news, probate law, celebrity estates, aviation, living and much more. Starting today, the podcast will have accompanying livestreams on our YouTube channel where you can bring all of your questions and interact with […]
We had the pleasure of sitting down to talk with Amanda Bronstad of Law.com about the Tom Girardi criminal trial involving his alleged theft on client settlement money. Amanda was in the courtroom in Los Angeles over the two weeks of the trial. She tells us all about this case – the defense strategy, uncovering […]
Should a trustee tell you what is happening in the trust administration? Of course they should, but all too often trustees use information as a weapon and keep their beneficiaries in the dark. It is easy to spot a good trustee because there is a transparent, free flow of information. Bank statements, brokerage statements, closing […]
You are the lucky recipient of a generous inheritance, but that inheritance may come with a big catch. While many inheritances are given to the beneficiaries outright, meaning the money or other assets pass into the beneficiaries’ names to own and control, some trusts require inheritances to remain inside a trust for the lifetime of […]
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 […]
California has recently adopted a law that allows stronger supervision and management of trusts by allowing the creation of “directed” trusts in our state. When establishing a directed trust, the grantor (or funder) of the trust can assign some or all trust management duties to someone other than the trustee(s). Traditionally, a trustee manages all […]
