Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
Trust Laws
My parents had a family trust naming my brother and me as successor trustees. My father had three insurance policies with Met Life. One had my brother, myself and my other (now deceased) brother as beneficiaries. The other two had my Mom as benificary. All three policies are in the name of the trust, however to collect the two where my mom is beneficiary, the insurance company is making us file for probate. They say they have to have letters of testamentary in order to pay out the policies, which are together worth less than 25K. Can they make us file for probate? Anyone else we ask says that a ''Declaration for collection of personal property'' should work. But the ins. company says their policy is to have the letters of testamentary which means that we have to file for probate. Can they force us to do that? The whole purpose of the family trust is to avoid filing for probate, so how can an insurance company force to to file for probate anyway? Thank you in advance for you inpute.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Trust Laws
I missed something here... did you say your mother was deceased? I assume that you are dealing with this after the death of your father, and that you are saying your mother predeceased your father.
First of all, the insurance companies should not be making you file for probate based on the information you provided. If a trust is controlling you need to file as such, along with any pour over wills, with the probate court. But this is not probating the assets. It is merely filing with the probate court that their is no assets that need to be probatated (the value of probatable assets, which does not include trust assets, is under the statutory minimum). The form is one page and barely costs anything to file. Along with reciept of this, you should be able to submit a copy of the certification of trust, a death certificate for the deceased mother, and a declaration.
My only thought is that the insurance policies does not name sucessor beneficiaries, nor does it have a survival clause. Meaning that technically the insurance policy should pay out to the estate of your mother, and follow her wishes.
Two things: 1) I would really need to see the insurance policy and the terms of the trust to advise you correctly; 2) even if you are right, these types of things are common with insurance companies and banks. On this note, I would recommend seeking the assistance of an attorney who is experienced in trust administration and can deal with both the insurance companies and provide you with more in depth info.
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