There are times when a Trust settlor names a successor Trustee who is not a beneficiary of the Trust. This is often a great idea because naming a child as Trustee can be disastrous. And naming two or more children as Co-Trustees is a fantastic idea if you want to keep lawyers fully employed
Can you unduly influence someone NOT to take an action? In nearly all Trust and Will disputes, an undue influence claim is brought to overturn a Trust or Will that was executed while the elder was unduly influenced. But not every Trust and Will case turns on action, sometimes inaction can be just as
Where do you sue your Trustee? If you want to sue a Trustee in California, there are two issues you need to consider: (1) jurisdiction, and (2) venue. Jurisdiction is the big question—can this Trustee be sued in California? Venue is the smaller question—where in California must this Trustee be sued?
Jurisdiction —
You will never know for certain what your rights are under a California Trust or a California estate without first seeing the Trust or Will documents. But how do you obtain those documents when a Trustee refuses to provide them to you? In this video, partner Stewart Albertson describes the process of obtaining Trust and
There are certain categories of people who are required by law to report any suspected elder abuse. That includes both physical elder abuse, and financial elder abuse. Under California Welfare and Institutions Code section 15630, any private or public facility that takes on the care and custody (meaning housing) of an elder (elder
Fairly often California Trust and Will lawsuits come down to the tangible personal property–things like photos, family heirlooms, and antiques. But once one party takes off with these items how do you get them back? Or how do you force the Trustee to give you the personal items you deserve? In this video, partner
Can a new Trust be created and assets transferred without telling the Trustee?
Once a Trust has assets titled in the name of the Trustee, that named Trustee becomes the legal owner of the assets. The beneficial owner of the assets is whoever is named as beneficiary. In the case of revocable trust
If you file a California Trust or Will lawsuit, the only way for the Court to make a decision on your case is at time of trial. A majority of cases never get that far because they settle before trial. But for those cases where no voluntary settlement is reached, trial is the only answer.
Do estate plans really protect you when you need them to? Yes and no.
In a perfect world, an estate plan is all you need to provide for your care and well-being when you lose the capacity or ability to care for your own finances. And for some people, this works great because
Just because a Trustee is given discretionary power to decide when to make distributions does not mean they can abuse that power. In this video, partner Keith Davidson discusses when a Trustee must exercise discretion.