Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
Setup: A & B are deeded joint tenants each with 50% interest in a property, then A quit claims their interest into a Trust with a Will that conditionally excludes B as a beneficiary if B does not quit claim his interest to the trust before A's death. B did not meet that condition, and is therefore not a beneficiary.
Question: The Trustee claims this automatically sends the estate to probate court. But B is not part of the Trust and is not contesting, is the Trustee correct?
3 Answers from Attorneys
You would need to provide the deeds to be sure. It seems that the deed from A to the trust terminates the joint tenancy. This means that A and B each then own a 50% interest as tenants in common. A's interest is presumably correctly vested in trust and would be distributeed in the manner the trust indicates. B's share (50%) would be subject to probate if he dies. Of course I may not correctly understand your question.
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Operation of a trust never goes to litigation unless one of the beneficiaries contests actions by the trustee, or the trustee must bring or defend litigation on behalf of the trust. Trusts don't get probated.
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