California Beneficiary Rights Attorney — What Beneficiaries Can Do When a Trust or Estate Is in Dispute

If a California trust or estate you are named in is being disputed, the Probate Code lets you request information and, in many cases, an accounting, ask the Superior Court to compel them, seek a trustee's removal or a surcharge for losses, and challenge a trust or will within strict deadlines.

Most people searching for beneficiary rights in California are not asking an abstract question. A parent has died, a sibling or a stepparent now controls the trust, and the emails have stopped being answered. Or a copy of a trust amendment arrived that nobody in the family had heard of, signed in the last months of a parent's life. You may be trying to work out whether you are owed an explanation, whether what you are seeing is actually wrong, and whether you are about to miss a deadline you did not know existed.

This page walks through what California law lets a beneficiary do in a dispute: the rights to information and accountings, the petitions that enforce them, what counts as a breach of trust, how a trustee is removed, how a trust or will is contested, and the time limits that apply.

What California Law Gives a Beneficiary the Right to Do

A beneficiary is a person who is entitled to receive money or property from a trust, either now or at some point in the future. California's Probate Code gives beneficiaries a set of rights that the trustee, the person managing the trust, must honor. Not every beneficiary holds every right, and that distinction matters early.

Under Probate Code section 16060, the trustee has a duty to keep the beneficiaries of the trust reasonably informed of the trust and its administration. That duty runs to beneficiaries generally.

Under Probate Code section 16061, on a beneficiary's reasonable request, the trustee generally must report requested information about the trust's administration that is relevant to that beneficiary's interest, except as section 16069 provides.

The duty to account is narrower. Probate Code section 16062 requires the trustee to account at least annually, at the termination of the trust, and upon a change of trustee, but only to each beneficiary to whom income or principal is required or authorized in the trustee's discretion to be currently distributed, and subject to exceptions in sections 16062 and 16064. One such exception: a trustee of a living trust created by an instrument executed before July 1, 1987, is not subject to that duty. An account is a formal written report of what came into the trust, what went out, and what remains. A beneficiary whose share is paid only after someone else's lifetime interest ends is not automatically owed the annual account, although that person still holds the information rights above.

The right that ties the others together is Probate Code section 17200(a): except as section 15800 provides, a trustee or beneficiary may petition the court concerning the internal affairs of the trust or to determine whether the trust exists. A petition is a formal written request asking the court to make an order. The proceedings section 17200(b) lists, which include construing the trust's language, determining the validity of a trust provision, and deciding to whom property should pass, are examples, not a complete list. This site's page on the Probate Code 17200 petition covers that procedure in more depth.

How a Beneficiary Can Compel Information and Accountings

The process usually starts with a letter. Under Probate Code section 17200(b)(7), a beneficiary may petition to compel information if the trustee has failed to provide the requested information within 60 days after the beneficiary's reasonable written request, and the beneficiary has not received that information within the six months before the request. A petition to compel an account works the same way: the trustee has failed to submit a requested account within 60 days after a written request, and no account has been made within the six months before the request.

In plain terms, a written request starts the 60-day clock. A phone call or a conversation at a family gathering does not create the same record. If the 60 days pass without a response and the six-month condition is met, the petition is available.

Some trusts say the trustee does not have to account, and some beneficiaries have signed a waiver. Probate Code section 16064 recognizes those waivers, but it adds that regardless of a waiver in the trust instrument, the court may compel the trustee to account upon a showing that it is reasonably likely that a material breach of the trust has occurred. A beneficiary who waived accounts in writing may also withdraw that waiver in writing for transactions after the withdrawal.

Once a petition is before it, the court's authority is broad. Probate Code section 17206 lets the court, in its discretion, make any orders and take any other action necessary or proper to dispose of the matters the petition presents, including appointing a temporary trustee to administer the trust in whole or in part.

When a Trustee's Conduct Crosses the Line: Breach of Trust and Fiduciary Duties

A fiduciary duty is a legal obligation to act in someone else's interest rather than your own. A trustee owes fiduciary duties to the beneficiaries, and a breach of trust is a violation of those duties. Not every disagreement with a trustee is a breach: a trustee who makes a reasonable decision you dislike, or who is simply slow, may not have violated any duty at all.

The core rule against self-dealing is Probate Code section 16004(a): the trustee has a duty not to use or deal with trust property for the trustee's own profit or for any other purpose unconnected with the trust, nor to take part in any transaction in which the trustee has an interest adverse to the beneficiary. A trustee who moves into the family home rent-free, or sells a trust asset to a spouse, raises the kind of question this section addresses.

Section 16004(c) adds a presumption. A transaction between the trustee and a beneficiary, during the trust or while the trustee's influence with the beneficiary remains, by which the trustee obtains an advantage from the beneficiary is presumed to violate the trustee's fiduciary duties. That presumption affects the burden of proof, meaning the trustee must show the transaction was proper, and it does not apply to an agreement about the trustee's hiring or compensation.

When a trustee commits or threatens to commit a breach, Probate Code section 16420(a) lets a beneficiary or cotrustee bring a proceeding for any appropriate purpose, including to compel the trustee to perform the trustee's duties; to enjoin, or stop, a breach; to compel redress by payment of money or otherwise; to appoint a receiver or temporary trustee; to remove the trustee; subject to section 18100, to set aside the trustee's acts; to reduce or deny the trustee's compensation; subject to section 18100, to impose an equitable lien or a constructive trust, a court order treating property as held for its rightful owner; and, subject to section 18100, to trace and recover property wrongfully disposed of. Under section 16420(b), those remedies do not prevent resort to any other appropriate remedy.

Money liability, called a surcharge, comes from Probate Code section 16440(a). A trustee who commits a breach is chargeable with whichever is appropriate: the loss or depreciation in value of the trust estate resulting from the breach, with interest; any profit the trustee made through the breach, with interest; or any profit that would have accrued to the trust estate if the lost profit resulted from the breach. A surcharge is not automatic. Under section 16440(b), if the trustee acted reasonably and in good faith under the circumstances as known to the trustee, the court may excuse the trustee in whole or in part if it would be equitable to do so.

Probate Code section 859 goes further in a narrower set of cases. If a court finds that a person has in bad faith wrongfully taken, concealed or disposed of property belonging to a trust or the estate of a decedent (among others), or has taken, concealed or disposed of it by undue influence in bad faith or through elder or dependent adult financial abuse, that person is liable for twice the value of the property recovered by an action under that part of the Code. The court may also, in its discretion, award reasonable attorney's fees and costs against a person liable under that section. Neither the doubling nor the fees follows without that finding.

Removing a Trustee Under California Law

Removal is the remedy beneficiaries ask about most, often after months of being shut out. Under Probate Code section 15642(a), a trustee may be removed in accordance with the trust instrument, by the court on its own motion, or on petition of a settlor (the person who created the trust), a cotrustee or a beneficiary under section 17200.

Section 15642(b) lists grounds for removal by the court, including a breach of trust; the trustee being insolvent or otherwise unfit to administer the trust; hostility or lack of cooperation among cotrustees that impairs administration; the trustee failing or declining to act; and the trustee's compensation being excessive under the circumstances. That list is partial, and removal is a decision the court makes on the evidence.

Compensation is often part of the fight. If the trust instrument does not specify the trustee's compensation, Probate Code section 15681 entitles the trustee to reasonable compensation under the circumstances. Under section 15686(b), a trustee may not charge an increased trustee's fee without first giving at least 60 days' written notice to the beneficiaries that section lists, including each beneficiary entitled to an account under section 16062. Under section 15686(c), a section 17200 petition served before that period expires holds the increase back until the court orders otherwise or the petition is dismissed.

Probate estates have their own rule. When the dispute is with an executor or administrator, called a personal representative, Probate Code section 8502 allows removal where the personal representative has wasted, embezzled, mismanaged or committed a fraud on the estate or is about to do so; is incapable of properly executing the duties or not qualified; has wrongfully neglected the estate or long neglected to act; where removal is otherwise necessary to protect the estate or interested persons; or for any other cause provided by statute.

Trust and estate cases are heard by the Superior Court of California for the county where the matter is properly filed.

Contesting a Trust or Will: Deadlines and Grounds

Late-life amendments are where many families' disputes start, and the deadline is usually the first thing to pin down. Under Probate Code section 16061.7(a), the trustee must serve a written notification in the events that section lists, including when a revocable trust becomes irrevocable because of a settlor's death and whenever there is a change of trustee of an irrevocable trust.

For a person served with that notification under section 16061.7(a)(1), Probate Code section 16061.8 sets the contest deadline: the person may not bring an action to contest the trust more than 120 days from the date the notification is served, or 60 days from the date a copy of the trust's terms is delivered to the person during that 120-day period, whichever is later. The clock is tied to service of the notification and, where it applies, delivery of the terms. This site's page on how to contest a trust covers that proceeding in more depth.

Some gifts start with a presumption against them. Under Probate Code section 21380(a), a provision of an instrument making a donative transfer, meaning a gift, to certain people is presumed to be the product of fraud or undue influence. Those people include the person who drafted the instrument; a person who transcribed it, or caused it to be transcribed, and who was in a fiduciary relationship with the transferor at the time; and a care custodian of a transferor who is a dependent adult, but only if the instrument was executed while the care custodian provided services or within 90 days before or after that period. The presumption affects the burden of proof and may be rebutted by clear and convincing evidence, except that it is conclusive for a transfer to the drafter and to the people section 21380(c) associates with the drafter. A beneficiary who fails to rebut it bears all costs of the proceeding, including reasonable attorney's fees. This does not mean every gift to a caregiver, relative or helper is presumed invalid.

Fear of a no contest clause, a provision that penalizes a beneficiary who challenges the document, keeps many people from asking questions at all. Probate Code section 21311(a) allows the clause to be enforced only against a direct contest brought without probable cause, and, only if the clause expressly says so, a pleading challenging a transfer on the ground that the property was not the transferor's, or a creditor's claim. Under section 21311(b), probable cause exists if, at the time of filing, the facts known to the contestant would cause a reasonable person to believe there is a reasonable likelihood the requested relief will be granted after an opportunity for further investigation or discovery.

Wills follow a separate track. Under Probate Code section 8250, a contest before the will is admitted to probate begins with an objection to probate; a summons is then issued and served, and the persons summoned file a written response within 30 days after service. Under section 8270, within 120 days after a will is admitted to probate, an interested person, other than a party to a will contest and other than a person who had actual notice of a contest in time to join it, may petition to revoke the probate of the will; under section 8270(b), a person who was a minor or incompetent without a guardian or conservator at admission may petition at any time before an order for final distribution.

Capacity is judged at a specific moment. Under Probate Code section 6100.5, a person lacks capacity to make a will if, at the time of making it, the person cannot understand the nature of the testamentary act, understand and recollect the nature and situation of the person's property, or remember and understand relations to living descendants, spouse, parents and those whose interests the will affects, among the elements that section lists. A diagnosis such as dementia does not, on its own, make a will invalid.

The Statute of Limitations for Breach of Trust Claims

Probate Code section 16460(a) sets a three-year limit with two possible starting points. If a beneficiary has received an interim or final account, or other written report, that adequately discloses the existence of a claim against the trustee, the claim is barred unless a proceeding is commenced within three years after receipt. An account adequately discloses a claim if it gives enough information that the beneficiary knows of the claim or reasonably should have inquired.

Where no account or report discloses the claim, or none is received, the three years run from when the beneficiary discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, the subject of the claim. Both branches can matter in the same case: an account received years ago may have started one clock while an undisclosed transaction did not.

What This Site Does — and Does Not — Handle

This site's subject is disputes: trustee misconduct and breach of fiduciary duty, trust contests and will contests, elder financial abuse involving trust or estate property, removal of trustees and personal representatives, and recovery of wrongfully taken property. The broader picture of California trust litigation is covered elsewhere on this site.

This site does not cover drafting a trust or will, estate planning, trust or probate administration where nobody disputes anything, or matters outside California. Full disclaimers appear at the foot of this page.

Discussing a Beneficiary Dispute With an Attorney

Beneficiary disputes tend to turn on paper and dates: when the trustee's notification was served, what the written requests said and when they went out, what any account disclosed, and when a late amendment was signed and who drafted it. A consultation about a dispute like this typically looks at the trust and any amendments, the correspondence with the trustee, any accounts received, and the transactions in question. If nothing is yet in dispute and the question is how a trust or estate is ordinarily administered, this page is not about that. To discuss a dispute with an attorney, you can request a consultation about your dispute through California Trust Litigation Lawyers.