Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
My father created a trust a few years back.He showed it me. My sister is the sucessor trustee. My father died 2 and half years ago. Before he passed away suddenly, my sister,on a one day visit to him removed all trust paperwork. She has refused to give a copy of the trust to any of the other 3 beneficiaries. She has recently sold his property in Calif. She didnt inform any of us (3 siblings/beneficiaries) that the sale went through and has blocked me from calling her number.
I have a couple questions: Laura who is the sucessor trustee,is having some financial problems because of her husbands heart attack at 52 because of smoking/overweight etc.
Laura has talked about filing bankruptcy to get rid of these medical bills. If Laura just keeps all the trust funds , (she may quickly use some for her son's private school/college) can she include the amounts that she was supposed to pay the beneficiaries in her bankruptcy? She has a house that is worth quite a lot, that they have had for twenty years. She is policewoman in a large city, and can be very nasty , and the family thinks she believes she is above the law.
If she has spent all the trust funds, can we get a judgement against her, and how can we get her to pay if she is not willing to?
Is there an period of time allowed by Cal law for the trustee to release the funds?
If there is can we sue her before that period is up,if we believe she is spending the trust funds for herself?
Is there a statute of limitations to take some action against her?
She is quite tricky, in that she has always talked as if she would distribute the funds once the property was sold> She said she had to hold on to money she received for our Fathers stocks because she needed that money for property taxes.
She convinced me to drive to my fathers property (7 hours) for the last 2 1/2 years to maintain it, saying that otherwise she would have to pay expensive workers to do the work, which would taken from my 50% of proceeds.
(She lives in Chicago) As I said now she will not commnicate with us. My other sister, a beneficiary, who lives in Phx and is extremely poor, called Laura asking about her share, and Laura has said she would go to Phx and shut her up, if she didn't stop asking! Please assist with some answers on what it is possible to do, that could be successful
2 Answers from Attorneys
Consult with a California probate litigation attorney, in person, without further delay, otherwise you risk losing anything you might have received from your father's estate.
You have to get a lawyer right away. You sister has already violated several duties of a successor trustee (like giving you a copy of the trust and keeping you informed regarding administration of the trust.) There should have been at least a preliminary distribution by now.
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