How to Obtain a Copy of a Trust or Will

[Music] As Keith Davidson and Albertson and Davidson in this video we're discussing how to obtain a copy of a trust or will so let's say one of your parents dies and you're trying to get a copy of a trust or a will but for whatever reason you just can't seem to obtain a copy of those documents the first thing you should know that when it comes to trust trusts are not recorded with any type of government entity so they're not with the County Recorder they're typically not with the courts you're never going to find a trust out there in some data bank where you can see it trusts or private documents they're usually given to the client the client then has to maintain them sometimes the lawyer who drafted the trust will keep a copy sometimes they won't it depends on the lawyer so it's not that easy to get a copy of the trust if the person who has it won't hand it over to you so we're going to talk about how to get that trust document for Wills they're also not lodged with the county or with the court until somebody dies and then they're supposed to be lodged with the court but that doesn't always happen so let's take a look and we're gonna start with a blog post that we did on our website quite a while ago now this was done on September 5th 2014 and in this blog post we actually have language that you can use you can actually take this language pop it into an email or a letter and send it off to the named executor or trustee to try and get a copy of the documents but let's start with the will so you can see under the first paragraph of this language for obtaining a copy of the will it references Probate Code section 8200 and it's saying that you is executor so you're sending this to the executor are required to deliver a copy of the will to the County Superior Court where mom and dad died within 30 days of mom and dad's respective deaths so let's take a look at that Code section that we're referencing so the easiest way to find California Code sections is just do a Google search for California legislative information once you get to the California legislative information page and I'll just click over to it now you actually have this here and you can go to the bottom and look at California law and it'll give you all the code sections including the California Probate Code when we click on the California Probate Code we can go to the section that covers 8,200 because we already know that's the section and that's the production of the will so it says here on 8200 a unless a petition for probate of the Wills earlier filed the custodian of the will that means whoever has it within 35 days after having knowledge of the death of the testator they must do any of the following including number one deliver the will personally or by registered or certified mail to the clerk of the Superior Court of the county in which the estate of the decedent may be administered that's the county where the decedent passed away where they were residing at the time of their death you'll also notice that under be a custodian of a will who fails to comply with this requirement shall be liable for all damages sustained by any person injured by that failure so going back then to our form language the first paragraph of this says that you're required to deliver this to the court and please note if I am damaged by your failure to deliver the will to the court you may be liable for my damages and we reference code section 8200 B on the second paragraph we say since you're required to deliver it to the court you should have no objection and providing me with a copy as well if they refuse to give you a copy but they file it with the court well that's easy you can just go to the court and get a copy from the court if they refuse to do both at least now you have it in writing that you made your demand the next step is going to be filing with the court and asking for a court order ordering them to hand over the will but at least this is the starting point you need to get this written request out as soon as possible so you can use this language put it in an email a letter a fax however it is you communicate and get it over to the named executor or whoever has a copy of the will and at least then you'll get the ball rolling you don't have to use this specific language by the way there's no magic language as long as you get the point across that I'm an area law of mom or dad and I am entitled to this will that's the message you need to deliver but you're welcome to copy this language if you like now let's talk about obtaining a copy of a trust trust work in a lot of the same ways accept trusts are not and typically sent to the county court the way wills are so we're gonna start with probate code sections 1606 0.7 and that says on the request of a beneficiary the trustee shall provide the terms of the trust to the beneficiary unless the trustee is not required to provide the terms to the trust in accordance with section 1606 9 well you can go look at 1606 nine it specifically says it doesn't apply if the trust is revocable and it doesn't reply if the trustee and the beneficiary are the same person but other than that it always applies so you are entitled to a copy of the trust the trustee is also required to serve a copy of the trust on heirs at law of the trust that lourd not just trust beneficiaries so if you're a child and you want to see your mom or dad's trust and your mom and her dad are deceased even if you're not a beneficiary of that trust you're still entitled to see a copy of the documents and you'll find that under 1606 1.7 and you come down here to subsection B in Subsection B 2 specifically says that you the trustee must serve a copy on each heir of the deceased set lore and each beneficiary of the trust or the irrevocable portion of the trust so that's how you know that you're entitled to a copy so here this is the language that we would have used and that you can use as well and it starts off referencing Probate Code section 1606 1.7 and it's telling the trustee that you as trustee of this trust are required to provide all beneficiaries of the trust and all of mom and dad's heirs with a true copy of the trust documents sixty days after their death as you are required to provide mom and dad's trust after sixty days of their death you should have no objection and providing me a copy so again we want to get this written notice out to the trustee as soon as possible they have 60 days in which to give you the documents after you send written notice and if they refuse to do so then you're free to file your petition with the court and ask the court to order them to give you the documents so this is another great way where you can just use this language put it into an email a letter a text however you communicate and get it over to the trustee you don't have to use this specific language if you don't want to but this is a good example of language you can use and you're welcome to copy this language and use it yourself so that you can get a copy of your trust or well document [Music] [Applause] you.