Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Sorry about the passing of your parents.

You should consult with an attorney in Utah about specifics with the trust.

However, whether you have to show proof of marriage regarding your name when acting as successor trustee, depends on who you are dealing with. With California trust administrations, we prepare a document where the successor trustee accepts to act as trustee and also a certified extract of the trust. We deal with any name differences in those documents which can be given to banks, title companies, or anyone else.

You should consult with an attorney as soon as possible. If your mother passed away last year, there are things that the successor trustee should be doing. If you are the successor trustee then you can administer the trust from California.

It is unclear if you are administrating the Trust or the Will [trustee versus administrator]. You need to have a separate account for the trust/will assets so as not to commingle it with your own money. Property that is sold by you will probably be sold in your maiden name as that is what you are described as in the documents. If there is any real property [houses, land] you wil probably have to go through formal probate in order to transfer the property. To save money, you want to be the administrator of the assets but you do need legal advice on what must be done and how to avoid tax problems. Read a book on will and trusts such as the Nolo Press books.

you should retain a qualified attorney to provide advice and prepare necessary documents regarding the administration of the trust. otherwise, you may not obtain proper title to assets or face issues regarding taxes.