California Trustees can charge reasonable fees for their services. The amount considered reasonable varies depending on the circumstances. Professional fiduciaries typically charge a certain percentage of the total value of the Trust assets (usually around 1%), while layperson Trustees (such as family members) often charge by the hour (typically around $30-$80).
Trustees’ fees also depend
California Trust and Will litigation is like building a puzzle. There are a lot of moving parts in most cases and trying to figure out how and when to put the parts together can be confusing.
The Fourth District Court of Appeals recently set Trust litigators straight on how and when a Trustee can be
The omnipresent no-contest clause (originally called in terrorum clauses–as in to terrify one’s beneficiaries) is meant to prevent lawsuits. The idea being that if a beneficiary contests a California Will or Trust containing the clause, then that beneficiary is entirely disinherited and loses his gift under the document (see our previous blog post on how
Bad trustees always seem to waste trust money defending their improper actions. Once a trust beneficiary challenges a trustee’s improper actions (breaches of trust), the trustee retaliates against the beneficiary. For example, the trustee may choose to suspend current monthly distributions, or in more extreme cases, attempt to have a no contest clause in a