California trust beneficiary rights are a vital legal tool that empowers beneficiaries to protect their inheritance, preserve the integrity of the trust, and combat incompetent, negligent, or criminal trustees. Still, understanding if you need a beneficiary lawyer to represent you requires first understanding these rights. In other words, you must know the rules before you play the game. Explore our guide to beneficiary rights:
What Are My California Trust Beneficiary Rights?
Determining whether or not you need to work with a premier beneficiary rights lawyer requires understanding your rights.
“Only an expert beneficiary lawyer has the experience in probate and California trust beneficiary rights to interpret the complex legal language in the document, which dictates whether or not a trustee has violated these rights,” explained Abbas K. Gokal, a partner and practicing attorney at Gokal Law Group with 20 years of experience defending beneficiary rights in Orange County courts.
Let’s dive into your rights as a trust beneficiary in California to help you understand if you need to work with a beneficiary rights attorney:
The Right to Receive a Copy of the Trust
You have a right to get a copy of the trust with all current amendments. This document will be like your guiding star throughout the process. Read the document carefully to familiarize yourself with the details. We advise going over it with an expert beneficiary lawyer.
This document will outline the administration and distribution process. Still, trustees are only obligated to notify you they have become trustees. Beneficiaries often must request a copy of this document. Important information in the document usually includes:
- Assets held in the trust
- Real estate asset information
- Bank account information
- Information about any heirlooms
- Contact information for specific parties named in the trust
If a trustee refuses to give you a copy of this document, this is a severe red flag that warrants contacting a California trust beneficiary rights lawyer.
The Right to Receive Accountings and Information About the Trust
Generally speaking, California law states that beneficiaries have a right to information and accounting regarding the trust.
More specifically, beneficiaries have a right to information regarding all changes made to the trust promptly, and they have a right to know the plan to administer and distribute the estate.
California trust beneficiary rights also include a right to a trust accounting at least annually (or when beneficiaries make a formal request). An accounting is a detailed report of all transactions and liabilities a trust has experienced within a specific period.
Beneficiaries also have the right to a reasonable report of assets, liabilities, income, bank statements, receipts, and disbursements.
The Right to Enforce the Terms of the Trust
As a beneficiary, remember that the trustee must adhere to trust terms. If you know or suspect they are not abiding by trust terms, working with a California trust beneficiary rights lawyer is essential to ensuring you receive the distributions you are entitled to.
The trust document will dictate how distributions will work. Beneficiaries have a right to the timely distribution of payments as specified in the document. If a trustee does not adhere to trust terms, you can work with a beneficiary lawyer to enforce them.
The Right to Sue Trustees and Contest the Trust
Lastly, but most importantly, you have the right to combat invalid trusts or negligent, incapable, or underhanded trustees for breaching their fiduciary duty.
If you suspect trust terms may not be legitimate or legal, beneficiaries have the right to work with a beneficiary attorney to contest the trust in court. On top of that, trustees have a legal obligation to fulfill their fiduciary duties.
If a trustee fails to fulfill these duties, beneficiaries have the right to work with a California trust beneficiary rights lawyer to pursue legal action against them.
Has a Trustee Violated Your California Trust Beneficiary Rights? Work With a Premier Beneficiary Lawyer to Receive Justice
Beneficiaries have rights that protect and empower them during the trust administration process. Still, to understand if your rights have been violated and leverage them, you must understand what your rights are and what the trust outlines. At Gokal Law Group, we are the premier California trust beneficiary rights attorneys.
Our team boasts unmatched expertise and experience representing beneficiaries, interpreting trust documents, and empowering them to demand and receive justice. To protect your rights, call us at (949) 753-9100 or contact us. Trust us to guard your trust.
California trust beneficiary rights are a vital legal tool that empowers beneficiaries to protect their inheritance, preserve the integrity of the trust, and combat incompetent, negligent, or criminal trustees. Still, understanding if you need a beneficiary lawyer to represent you requires first understanding these rights. In other words, you must know the rules before you play the game. Explore our guide to beneficiary rights:
What Are My California Trust Beneficiary Rights?
Determining whether or not you need to work with a premier beneficiary rights lawyer requires understanding your rights.
“Only an expert beneficiary lawyer has the experience in probate and California trust beneficiary rights to interpret the complex legal language in the document, which dictates whether or not a trustee has violated these rights,” explained
Abbas K. Gokal, a partner and practicing attorney at Gokal Law Group with 20 years of experience defending beneficiary rights in Orange County courts.
Let’s dive into your rights as a trust beneficiary in California to help you understand if you need to work with a beneficiary rights attorney:
The Right to Receive a Copy of the Trust
You have a right to get a copy of the trust with all current amendments. This document will be like your guiding star throughout the process. Read the document carefully to familiarize yourself with the details. We advise going over it with an expert beneficiary lawyer.
This document will outline the administration and distribution process. Still, trustees are only obligated to notify you they have become trustees. Beneficiaries often must request a copy of this document. Important information in the document usually includes:
- Assets held in the trust
- Real estate asset information
- Bank account information
- Information about any heirlooms
- Contact information for specific parties named in the trust
If a trustee refuses to give you a copy of this document, this is a severe red flag that warrants contacting a California trust beneficiary rights lawyer.
The Right to Receive Accountings and Information About the Trust
Generally speaking, California law states that beneficiaries have a right to information and accounting regarding the trust.
More specifically, beneficiaries have a right to information regarding all changes made to the trust promptly, and they have a right to know the plan to administer and distribute the estate.
California trust beneficiary rights also include a right to a trust accounting at least annually (or when beneficiaries make a formal request). An accounting is a detailed report of all transactions and liabilities a trust has experienced within a specific period.
Beneficiaries also have the right to a reasonable report of assets, liabilities, income, bank statements, receipts, and disbursements.
The Right to Enforce the Terms of the Trust
As a beneficiary, remember that the trustee must adhere to trust terms. If you know or suspect they are not abiding by trust terms, working with a California trust beneficiary rights lawyer is essential to ensuring you receive the distributions you are entitled to.
The trust document will dictate how distributions will work. Beneficiaries have a right to the timely distribution of payments as specified in the document. If a trustee does not adhere to trust terms, you can work with a beneficiary lawyer to enforce them.
The Right to Sue Trustees and Contest the Trust
Lastly, but most importantly, you have the right to combat invalid trusts or negligent, incapable, or underhanded trustees for breaching their fiduciary duty.
If you suspect trust terms may not be legitimate or legal, beneficiaries have the right to work with a beneficiary attorney to contest the trust in court. On top of that, trustees have a legal obligation to fulfill their fiduciary duties.
If a trustee fails to fulfill these duties, beneficiaries have the right to work with a California trust beneficiary rights lawyer to pursue legal action against them.
Has a Trustee Violated Your California Trust Beneficiary Rights? Work With a Premier Beneficiary Lawyer to Receive Justice
Beneficiaries have rights that protect and empower them during the trust administration process. Still, to understand if your rights have been violated and leverage them, you must understand what your rights are and what the trust outlines. At Gokal Law Group, we are the premier California trust beneficiary rights attorneys.
Our team boasts unmatched expertise and experience representing beneficiaries, interpreting trust documents, and empowering them to demand and receive justice. To protect your rights, call us at (949) 753-9100 or contact us.
14 Responses
I am the Trustee. Is it normal for the company that wrote up the Trust to ask for more money for a Lawyer to send out letters to Heirs and other fees that are outdated that went up? They’re asking for $900 more and my dad’s Trust was originally bought in 2002 and updated in 2019.
My sister orchestrated a trust when my dad was 87 yo. and my mom was 73. My sister had the trust mailed to her home out of state upon completion. I was never made aware of the trust until 2020. My dad died 3 years after the trust was created and my mom was oblivious to it’s existence. Can I pursue charges against my sister for elder abuse and attempted embezzlement, or have the trust declared invalid? My sister listed herself for 70% inheritance beneficiary and me with 15%. Additional beneficiary, her son, daughter and niece 5% each.
My Family Trust has been broken by original named Trustee’s and placed into the hands of a county fiduciary which is the second reason my mom created the Trust, so that it would remain in our hands. I also have proof of changes made to the Trust and my mother’s initials being forged.I need help it’s going on 3yrs and the Beneficiary’s have received nothing nor has the property been transferred. They’ve sold property and not distributed the funds. Help!
My pops passed recently my sis is the executor of the trust and as suspected she is already trying to take control of all property and assests. And give my brother and i the short end of the stick. Gonna need help.
I have an executor and her mother taking advantage of trust assets and not being transparent
Mother died 10/5/22 and I have transactions of my step niece being sent lots of money prior to death and transfers of money after death. They basically have stolen from mom and had access to take tangible assets anytime from her home after death which I was not privileged to at all. My goal is to get back all money taken before and after death as well as assets taken. I want to pursue a criminal case against them as I have proof of undue influence and transaction proof . They pushed me out of the family by way of slander all for money. I need to speak to a lawyer asap and get advice on all the information I have collected . I have retainer money and consult fee if we could get set up on
I tried to obtain one of co-trustees e-mail address, however, only the phone number is available.
Is this legal?
I need help to sue the trustee of my mother’s estate. There are too many breaches of failure to keep me informed. It was my mother who died. The list is far too long to list it all here.
I need to get a copy of my mother and father’s living trust my dad was married to a Chinese lady and she got rid of the trust after he passed away and kept the house, after he got Alzheimer’s she refinanced his house without his permission or knowledge.
Two Inheritances owed, mom and dads estate. Dad had HUGE estate
Probate Fraud
I am the beneficiary of my late mother’s estate and my sister is the original named trustee and administrator of my special needs trust. She was told by an attorney that she must sue me before removing money from my share. She didn’t, and has subsequently removed $14,600.00+ from my share without reporting to the courts . She also went online to close a bank account my mother set for me in the amount of $5365.00 original account was $10,235 .00 and she removed $4000 from my share account for her personal gain. She had stop paying for my essential services for which she deemed necessary for at the initial start. She never disclosed the amount of money for my mother house sold for, and upon further investigation it sold for $ 595.000 .00 and each beneficiary was awarded $70.000 except for me I received $58.000 which is almost depleted with a small remaining balance . I am presently attending school for paralegal studies of which will be suspended because of nonpayment of my intent service and phone service as well. There is so much more than what I have stated and I have already filed in small claims court against her and I am quite sure that I will either be redirected or heard or denied because the trust started 04/18/2021 . I am considered disabled but more than able to manage my own care and affairs. I have requested a fee waiver and I am willing to except that I will not recover the insurmountable loss that I have already endured. She also prevented me from receiving my share of inheritance by obtaining an outside estate sale company, which the company received 60% and our family received 40% and I was told the estate sale company stole some of the property , but no charges were filed. She removed $10.000 from my share for the blue book value for my my mothers vehicle, held in trust for a little over two years and distributed to herself and my late sister’s son and daughter and I received nothing. My mother gave me the car because I taking care of her in final years which was the last two and a half. In I owned the vehicle and a attorney told her that she would have to sue me for the money but she said that she didn’t feel like it and she removed the money anyway. So far she has removed over or taken over $20,600 .00 + I understand that this may be a difficult situation but I do have the necessary documentation to prove my claims and I seeking assistance that you can provide for me. I am very determined to seek justice for this abusive and unfair treatment throughout this ordeal. I certainly believe that my mother did not intend for this to go in this direction. She actually stated that she regretted giving my sister that much power because she knew that they would treat me this way. One more small note : My sister called me over to the house and asked me to wrap things out of the china cabinet and I start wrapping things, and I really wasn’t expecting what was going to happen next . While I was wrapping items, I had wrapped some Santa clause salt and pepper shakers, about an inch high and my sister yelled down from upstairs and demanded that I tell what I was wrapping and then ran downstairs and ran over wrestling the box away from me and started that was helping myself and I had to leave the house! Embarrassing, humiliating belittled and me trying to get her to understand that I was there to help but no , I had to go . That’sThis whole thing has caused me to require therapy and still attending . I can only hope and pray that you can offer any kind of help for me because I have been struggling with this for years.
I am sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you and I hope that you can offer any assistance to help with this matter.?
Trustees.
They really usually steal the entire estate stupid…
Good luck. Finding a lawyer. Been 8. Or 9 years for me…
No one. Lawyers. Work for benifituarys…..its always the dam trustees….
See if you can hire a judge in your area…make out a trust. Say you own it all…..and take all money from them
No justice for beneficiaries of trusts worth less then a million , your firm like all other trust litigation firms don’t take abused beneficiaries cases where the loss is less then $1 M hundreds if not thousands of trust litigation firms have constantly told myself and my sisters that will trusty stole your $150,000 he’s sold your brother’s half of a two million dollar trust for $82,000 and didn’t give you any assistance a penny but since trust is only worth a million or less we don’t take cases that are less than a million now if you really want to fight then you can give us a $30,000 down payment and then $60,000 a year in the form of $5,000 a month to top off the retainer and if you can’t do that sorry we can’t help you so I’ll just talk about Justice for a few beneficiaries doesn’t apply for four people for people that have lost less than a million like my sisters and I we are in our 60s my brother had cancer 6 years and he left us half ownership $2 million dollar house in his Trust and I we’re supposed to get $90,000 each of combined just with three ways and if you don’t get it it’s supposed to be a lien on the property at 10% if it’ll be here until paid it full will now it’s 5 years later we haven’t got a dime to probably put to care less and no attorney would touch the case with a 10-ft pole because the trust you love to trustworld and protectively though so I’ll just talk about you know a little shave you from inheritance that one to lies because it doesn’t apply to crossword less than a million
Trust that are worth less than a million don’t get any help from tough litigation attorneys and I’ve spoken to over a thousand trust litigation attorneys because my two sisters and I in our 60s were too crowded on my inheritance in our late Brothers trust by a multi- millionaire trustee whose wife owns tons of real estate and they sold my brothers half of the two million dollar house for $82,000 and 5 years later we have got nothing and the Probate Court care less and nobody wants to take the case because they say well it’s only a million dollars that you lost so why are you even bothering to fight because it’ll take a million would like the case but if you really want to take the case you really wants to take the case then send us $30,000 down and 60,000 a year in the form of $5,000 a month otherwise we don’t want your case and I’m really just $20,000 times over the last 5 years so this is a fake advertising cuz it only applies to which people and larger States 5 million 10 million but when a trust each deals from a trust less than a million the police don’t care the district attorney doesn’t care and comfort the gates and attorneys while take the case and no other attorneys know how to fight this kind of cases