If you have been notified that you are the beneficiary of someone’s last will and testament or a trust, congratulations to you. Someone has thought well enough of you or your organization that they want you to benefit from the distribution of their assets.
A beneficiary is a person or entity designated to benefit from assets owned by someone else, often as part of an inheritance or a bequest made after their death. Naming beneficiaries is a major part of estate planning. Life insurance policies, retirement accounts, brokerage accounts, bank accounts, and other financial products may name beneficiaries, as well.
Once you understand that you are to benefit from someone’s estate, you should understand that a beneficiary’s role is not necessarily passive. You have rights to information and to an accounting of a trust. At Albertson & Davidson, LLP, we help trust and will beneficiaries who have been denied their proper inheritance by abusive fiduciaries. Our aggressive lawyers fight beneficiary abuse by filing trust contests, will contests, and financial elder abuse lawsuits throughout the State of California.
If you have concerns about how a trust, will, or an estate you are a designated beneficiary of is being administered, contact Albertson & Davidson now. A consultation is free.
The Beneficiary’s Role Defined
In a will, an individual will name people or entities, such as schools or charities, that they want to receive portions of their estate. The beneficiaries are supposed to receive assets that have been bequeathed to them. The assets of a trust may be distributed to one or more beneficiaries. Certain accounts may name beneficiaries.
A beneficiary may be designated as:
- A Primary Beneficiary, the person or organization named as the first in line to receive benefits from an asset. They can be named in a will or trust or identified on a policy or account.
- A Contingent or Secondary Beneficiary, a person or organization that would receive the designated assets if the primary beneficiary was deceased or could not be located. There may be more than one contingent beneficiary. The will or Trust document should explain how assets are split among them.
A Beneficiary’s Right to Information
A beneficiary to an estate or trust has the right to information about how the decedent’s estate is being administered. At the same time, the executor of the will, administrator of the estate, or trustee also has duties that include keeping beneficiaries informed.
A beneficiary has the right to be informed in a timely manner about the basics of the estate, particularly distribution dates, and explanations about any delays. A beneficiary may also request copies of such documents as:
- The will
- Trust document
- Bank statements
- Checks
- Trustees’ fees
It’s best to make your request in writing. It does not need to be sent by certified mail.
Primary or current income beneficiaries also have the right to an accounting of a trust’s investments, distributions, and expenditures after six months unless its bylaws say otherwise.
If everything is going as it should, the executor or trustee understands their obligations to beneficiaries and provides general information as part of regular, ongoing communications.
However, some trustees fail to respond to valid requests from beneficiaries for information they are entitled to receive. if a trustee is not responsive or you have concerns about how they are handling their duties, you should seek the guidance of a California trust litigation attorney at Albertson & Davidson about the appropriate steps in your specific situation.
Dealing with Uncooperative Estate Administrators
It is best to try to work with an estate administrator or a trustee. Give them a reasonable amount of time to comply with your requests. Hear them out if there are reasons things are not going as they should. You have the right to ask the Probate Court to uphold your rights as a beneficiary.
For example, if a trustee refuses to distribute assets according to the rules of the trust, a beneficiary may:
- Sue the trustee for breach of fiduciary duty
- Ask the Probate Court to order the trustee to make distributions
- Ask the Probate Court to suspend or remove and replace the trustee.
If there are intractable issues with how the executor is handling the estate, a beneficiary may ask the court for an order preventing the executor from taking certain proposed actions. You may start legal proceedings by responding to a Notice of Proposed Action, which the executor should be sending to beneficiaries whenever they make major moves, such as selling a house or compromising on a debt.
To object to a Notice of Proposed Action, you would return the form or file a lawsuit asking the Probate Court for an order restraining the executor from taking a specific proposed action. This automatically requires the executor to explain to the court what he or she is doing before moving ahead.
A beneficiary who believes the executor is not fulfilling the duties of the job may ask the court to remove and replace the executor. A petition for removal would require evidence that the executor is unfit due to negligence, misconduct, or incapacity.
You do not have to wait for the executor of an estate to take action detrimental to the estate or a beneficiary before you seek their removal.
Contact Our California Beneficiary Rights Lawyers
The lawyers of Albertson & Davidson, LLP are aggressive litigators who fight beneficiary abuse by filing trust contests, will contests, and financial elder abuse lawsuits throughout the State of California. Our litigation team has the resources and the necessary experience with estate law and the probate process in California to handle all matters, up to and through trial, if necessary, to achieve your desired results.
An initial consultation about problems with a trust, will, probate, or administration of an estate is free and confidential. We work with clients throughout the state of California from offices in Los Angeles, Bay Area, San Diego County, Orange County, and Silicon Valley. Contact us for help today.
