How to Petition to Remove a Trustee in California: A Step-by-Step Guide

In California, a beneficiary, a co-trustee or the person who created the trust can ask the Superior Court to remove a trustee by filing a petition. The court may remove a trustee who has breached the trust, is unfit, refuses to act or charges excessive fees, among other grounds. The court may also act on its own, and the trust document may provide its own removal method.

You may be a son or daughter who has waited months for a parent's trust to be distributed. You may be a sibling watching another sibling, now serving as trustee, live in the family house or move money without explanation. You may be a co-trustee who can no longer work with the person you were appointed alongside. In each situation the questions are the same: whether the problem is serious enough for a court, what the process involves, and what happens to the trust afterward. Most people facing this process have never set foot in a probate courtroom. This guide walks through each stage of a California trustee removal dispute in order, so the path is visible before anyone decides whether to take it.

The process below has two groundwork sections and four steps: gathering information, filing, serving the petition and attending the hearing, and what follows removal. This guide states no court fees or durations. Those depend on the county, on whether the trustee opposes the petition, and on how much evidence is in dispute.

Before You Start: What a Trustee Removal Petition Is and Who May File

Under Probate Code section 15642(a), a trustee may be removed in three ways: under the terms of the trust instrument, by the court on its own motion, or on the petition of a settlor, co-trustee or beneficiary under Probate Code section 17200. A trust instrument is the written trust document and any amendments to it. A settlor is the person who created the trust. A beneficiary is a person who is entitled to receive, or may receive, money or property from the trust.

The trust instrument route is separate from the court. Some trusts let a named person, or a majority of beneficiaries, replace a trustee without filing anything. Where the document gives that power, the first task is to read exactly who holds it and what conditions apply. Where it does not, or where the trustee refuses to step aside, the court route applies.

Probate Code section 17200(a) is the general doorway into court. With a limited statutory exception, it generally allows a trustee or beneficiary to petition the court about the internal affairs of the trust, meaning how the trust is run, or to determine whether a trust exists at all. A removal petition is one kind of internal-affairs petition. This site's guide to the Probate Code 17200 petition covers that broader procedure.

The grounds for removal in Probate Code section 15642(b) are a partial list. The section says the grounds "include" those it names, so a court is not limited to them. This guide covers disputes only. It does not explain how to set up, fund or run a trust when nobody disagrees.

Grounds for Removal Under California Probate Code Section 15642

Probate Code section 15642(b) lists grounds for removal, including:

• the trustee has committed a breach of trust;
• the trustee is insolvent or otherwise unfit to administer the trust;
• hostility or lack of cooperation among co-trustees impairs the trust's administration;
• the trustee fails or declines to act;
• the trustee's compensation is excessive under the circumstances; and
• in some circumstances, the sole trustee is a person described in another provision of the Probate Code, such as the person who drafted the trust, subject to exceptions in section 15642(b)(6).

A breach of trust is a violation of a duty the trustee owes to the trust or its beneficiaries. Probate Code section 16420(a) lists removal as one of several remedies a court may order when a trustee commits or threatens a breach, so a breach does not lead only to removal.

Several duties come up often in removal disputes. Under Probate Code section 16004(a), the trustee may not use or deal with trust property for the trustee's own profit or for any purpose unconnected with the trust, and may not take part in any transaction in which the trustee has an interest adverse to the beneficiary. Under section 16004(c), a transaction between the trustee and a beneficiary, during the trust or while the trustee's influence remains, by which the trustee obtains an advantage from the beneficiary is presumed to violate the trustee's fiduciary duties. That presumption shifts the burden of proof to the trustee, and it does not apply to an agreement about hiring or paying the trustee.

Under Probate Code section 16060, the trustee must keep beneficiaries reasonably informed of the trust and its administration. Probate Code section 16062 adds a duty to account, meaning to give a written report of what came in, what went out and what remains. That duty arises at least annually, at the end of the trust and when the trustee changes. It runs only to beneficiaries to whom income or principal must be, or may be in the trustee's discretion, currently distributed, and it has exceptions. Not every beneficiary is owed an annual account. Under Probate Code section 16064, even where the trust instrument or a beneficiary's signed writing waives the account, the court may compel one on a showing that a material breach of the trust is reasonably likely.

Timing matters as well. Under Probate Code section 16460(a), a breach of trust claim is barred unless a proceeding begins within three years after the beneficiary receives a written account or report that adequately discloses the claim. Where no account or report adequately discloses it, or none is received, the three years run from when the beneficiary discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, the subject of the claim. A finding of breach does not make money damages or double recovery automatic, as Step 3 explains.

Step 1: Gather Evidence and Request Information from the Trustee

The first step happens before anything is filed. Under Probate Code section 16061, a trustee generally must report requested information about the trust's administration that is relevant to the beneficiary's interest, on the beneficiary's reasonable request.

A written request matters for two reasons. It creates a dated record of what was asked and when. It also starts a clock under Probate Code section 17200(b)(7). A beneficiary may petition the court to compel the trustee to provide information if the trustee has not provided it within 60 days after a reasonable written request, and the beneficiary has not received the requested information from the trustee within the six months before the request. A parallel rule applies to an account: a petition to compel is available if the trustee has not submitted a requested account within 60 days after a written request and no account has been made within the six months before the request. Section 17200(b)(7) also allows a petition to compel the trustee to provide a copy of the trust's terms.

Evidence at this stage usually includes the trust instrument and its amendments, any accounts or statements the trustee has sent, correspondence with the trustee, records of property such as a house or bank accounts, and notes on dates when distributions were promised or delayed. A trustee's silence after a written request can itself become part of the picture a court considers.

This step can end without a removal petition. A trustee who answers fully may resolve the concern, or the answer may point toward a different kind of petition. If the trustee does not answer, the next step is filing.

Step 2: Identify the Correct Court and File the Petition Under Probate Code Section 17200

Trust disputes in California are heard by the Superior Court of California for the relevant county, in its probate division. Which county is proper depends on the facts of the trust, including where it is administered. This guide gives no courthouse address, department, filing fee or local rule, because each county sets its own procedures.

Under Probate Code section 17201, the proceeding begins by filing a petition that states facts showing the petition is authorized, states its grounds, and lists the names and addresses of each person entitled to notice. A removal petition generally sets out the petitioner's standing as a settlor, co-trustee or beneficiary, the trustee's conduct, the section 15642(b) grounds relied on, and the relief requested.

A petition may ask for more than removal. Under Probate Code section 16420(a), if a trustee commits or threatens a breach of trust, a beneficiary or co-trustee may seek any appropriate remedy, including orders:

• compelling the trustee to perform the trustee's duties;
• stopping the trustee from committing a breach;
• requiring the trustee to redress a breach by paying money or otherwise;
• appointing a receiver or temporary trustee to take possession of and administer the trust property;
• removing the trustee;
• setting aside the trustee's acts, subject to statutory limits noted in section 16420(a);
• reducing or denying the trustee's compensation;
• imposing an equitable lien or a constructive trust, meaning a court order that certain property is held for the trust, subject to those same limits; and
• tracing and recovering wrongfully disposed trust property or its proceeds, subject to those same limits.

Under section 16420(b), these remedies do not prevent the use of any other appropriate remedy under statute or common law. Under Probate Code section 17206, the court may make any orders necessary or proper to dispose of the matters raised, including appointing a temporary trustee to run the trust in whole or in part.

Step 3: Serve the Petition and Attend the Probate Court Hearing

Once the petition is filed, it must be given to the people entitled to notice, including the trustee and other interested beneficiaries. Notice periods and methods come from the Probate Code and the court's rules. This guide does not set them out, and a missed notice step can delay a hearing.

The court sets a hearing. The trustee may file a written response that disputes the facts, explains the conduct, or argues that the grounds do not apply. Where the facts are contested, the case can involve gathering documents and testimony before the court decides. Under Probate Code section 15642(a), the court has its own authority to remove a trustee, independent of how the parties frame their requests.

Where the trust property needs protection while the case is pending, a petitioner may ask the court to appoint a temporary trustee under Probate Code section 17206. The court decides whether that step is warranted.

If the court finds a breach, the trustee may also face a surcharge, a court order that the trustee personally repay the trust. Under Probate Code section 16440(a), a trustee who commits a breach is chargeable with whichever of the following is appropriate: any loss or drop in value caused by the breach, with interest; any profit the trustee made through the breach, with interest; or any profit the trust would have earned but for the breach. Under section 16440(b), the court may excuse a trustee who acted reasonably and in good faith under the circumstances as the trustee knew them, in whole or in part, if that would be equitable. A surcharge is never automatic.

Probate Code section 859 provides a further remedy in a property-recovery action. If a court finds that a person in bad faith wrongfully took, concealed or disposed of trust property, or took, 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. The court may also, in its discretion and except as other law requires, award reasonable attorney's fees and costs against that person. Neither the doubled amount nor the fees follow without that finding.

Step 4: What Happens After the Trustee Is Removed

Removal does not end the trust. The trust continues under a new trustee. If the trust instrument names a successor, that person usually steps in. If it names no one, or the named person cannot serve, the court may appoint a trustee under Probate Code section 17206.

Removal is often only part of the relief. The court may also order other remedies under Probate Code section 16420(a), such as an accounting, repayment, or recovery of property. Compensation is frequently at issue. Under Probate Code section 15681, if the trust instrument does not set the trustee's pay, the trustee is entitled to reasonable compensation under the circumstances, and section 16420(a) allows a court to reduce or deny a trustee's compensation after a breach.

Fee increases have their own rule. Under Probate Code section 15686(b), a trustee may not charge an increased fee without at least 60 days' written notice to the beneficiaries that section lists. Under section 15686(c), if a beneficiary files a section 17200 petition to review the increase or remove the trustee and serves it on the trustee before the 60 days expire, the increase does not take effect until the court orders otherwise or the petition is dismissed.

A change of trustee can also trigger notice duties. Probate Code section 16061.7(a) requires a trustee's notification in several events, including when a revocable trust becomes irrevocable because of a settlor's death and whenever the trustee of an irrevocable trust changes. For a person served with the notification given after a settlor's death under section 16061.7(a)(1), Probate Code section 16061.8 bars an action to contest the trust more than 120 days after the notification is served, or 60 days after a copy of the trust's terms is delivered to that person during that 120-day period, whichever is later. A trust contest challenges the validity of the trust itself, which is different from removing a trustee. This site's guide on how to contest a trust covers that path.

When Removal Is Not the Only Option: Other Remedies Available to Beneficiaries

Removal can feel like the only answer when trust in a family member has broken down, but the Probate Code offers a wider set of tools. The remedies in Probate Code section 16420(a) are a partial list. They include compelling performance, stopping a breach, ordering redress, appointing a receiver or temporary trustee, removal, setting aside the trustee's acts, reducing or denying compensation, imposing an equitable lien or constructive trust, and tracing and recovering property, the last three subject to statutory limits. Under section 16420(b), other remedies remain available.

The proceedings listed in Probate Code section 17200(b) are also not exhaustive. They include construing the trust, settling accounts, instructing the trustee and compelling information. Under Probate Code section 16064, a waiver of accounts does not prevent the court from compelling an account on a showing that a material breach is reasonably likely. A court may leave a trustee in place and still order the trustee to account, repay or act.

California Trust Litigation covers disputes only. It does not facilitate inquiries about creating a trust, estate planning or trust administration where no one disagrees. For a broader overview of these disputes, see this site's page on California trust litigation.

Typical timeline

No fixed duration applies to a California trustee removal proceeding. The sequence is generally the same: a written request and the 60-day period under Probate Code section 17200(b)(7), then filing, notice, the trustee's response and a hearing. A petition the trustee does not oppose may be resolved at an early hearing. A contested petition with disputed accounts or property transfers can take considerably longer, depending on the evidence and the county court's calendar. The three-year limits in Probate Code section 16460(a) run separately and can affect how claims for money are framed.

When the process gets complicated

The trustee resigns mid-case

A resignation may end the removal question, but it does not by itself resolve claims for an accounting, surcharge or recovery of property. Those requests can continue under Probate Code section 16420(a).

Assets were moved before the petition

Where property such as a house or account has already left the trust, the petition may seek tracing, a constructive trust or recovery, subject to statutory limits, and in some cases relief under Probate Code section 859 if the court makes the required bad-faith, undue influence or financial abuse finding.

Co-trustees who cannot work together

Probate Code section 15642(b) names hostility or lack of cooperation among co-trustees that impairs administration as a ground. A co-trustee may petition, and the court may remove one or more co-trustees or make other orders.

The trust document waives accounts

A waiver limits the routine duty under Probate Code section 16062, but under section 16064 a court may still compel an account on a showing that a material breach is reasonably likely.

Talking Through a Trustee Removal Dispute

Removal disputes turn on details: what the trust instrument says about successors and accounts, when written requests went out and what came back, and what happened to specific property. An attorney looking at a dispute like this would typically review the trust and its amendments, any accounts or reports received and their dates, correspondence with the trustee, and records of transfers or delays. For readers whose questions are about setting up a trust or a matter where no one disagrees, a different resource will be more useful than this site.

To discuss a dispute like this with an attorney, you can contact California Trust Litigation Lawyers to request a consultation about your dispute.