Legal Question in Elder Law in California

It depends on whether you are the original trustee or successor trustee. If you are the original trustee, you can take care of any finances that are in the trust. Unfortunately, after originally creating a trust, people often forget to put new accounts and assets into the trust. A trustee can only handle things in the trust. If she is the original trustee and you are successor, it's even more complicated. You will have to have her declared incompetent to continue to act as trustee, making you successor trustee. Then you still face the issue of assets in and not in the trust. If you have to go to the trouble of having her declared incompetent and making you trustee, you may as well get a conservatorship at the same time, which would cover the trust and anything not properly conveyed into the trust.