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 provides for separate schedules detailing things like:
- Assets on hand at the beginning of the accounting period
- Receipts
- Gains on sale
- Disbursements (meaning trust expenses)
- Distributions to beneficiaries
- Loses on sale
- Assets on hand at the end of the accounting period
Purpose of trust accounting
When you see a good trust accounting you can easily determine what the trust contained when the accounting period started, what came into the trust, what went out of the trust, and what remains. That’s the whole point of a trust accounting; to make it easy for you to determine what the heck is going on with the trust assets. It provides a roadmap of all that has happened with the trust assets and money.
This is why it can be disturbing when a trustee ignores the request. It usually signals trouble ahead when a trustee ignores beneficiary accounting. Either the trustee does not understand their duty to account, does not know how to prepare a proper trust accounting, or, worst of all, is trying to hide something bad.
Fiduciary duty to account
A trustee is not required to prepare a trust accounting on their own. They can hire an accountant to prepare the accounting for them. However, they cannot simply ignore a request for an accounting. In fact, the trustee is supposed to provide an accounting to you before you even ask for it. So why do so many trustees ignore their duty to account?
The biggest problem is ignorance. Many non-professional trustees simply do not understand that they have a duty to account. Additionally, they do not understand what a trust accounting requires. It would be easy enough for the trustee to simply hire a professional to help them prepare the accounting, but far too many trustees refuse to do so.
The next biggest problem is trying to hide malfeasance. When a bad trustee either mismanages trust assets, or outright takes advantage of the trust and its assets, it is only too easy to ignore an accounting request to try to hide their wrongdoing. If they do not account, then hopefully the beneficiaries will never learn of the mistake, or fraud, and will simply go away.
It is important that you, as a trust beneficiary, insist on receiving a proper trust accounting. In cases where the trustee ignores your request, then you have no choice but to take action in court to force the trustee to account. Don’t have a trustee that ignores beneficiary accounting or let them get by with trying to hide information from you. You are entitled to a proper trust accounting. If not, you will force the trustee to account. That means the time to take action is now.
Don’t be an abused beneficiary
Our attorneys have taken action against hundreds of trustees for abusing their beneficiaries. We’ve also recovered more than $300 million and helped hundreds and hundreds of clients regain their dignity as a trust or will beneficiary through litigation – if you believe you’ve been the victim of inheritance abuse, tell us your story to see if your case qualifies for a free consultation. We’re here to stand, fight and win for you.
Call (877) 408-3813 or reach out online to consult a trust contest lawyer.
