Trustee Refusing to Provide an Accounting: What California Law Allows

If a California trustee refuses to account, a beneficiary who is owed an account can make a written request. If the trustee then lets 60 days pass without delivering it, and no account was made in the six months before the request, the beneficiary can petition the superior court. The court can order the account, and in some cases more.

Most people facing this question have already asked, sometimes more than once. They may have asked a brother or sister who became trustee after a parent died, or a family friend or a professional named in the trust. What came back was silence, a promise that "it's coming," a spreadsheet with no detail, or a flat no. The beneficiary is left wondering whether they are being unreasonable, whether they have a right to see the numbers at all, and what a court can actually do if the trustee keeps refusing.

This article walks through who California law says is owed an accounting, when a refusal becomes something a court will act on, what the court can order, and the time limits that follow. An accounting, in plain terms, is a formal written report of a trust's assets and debts, the money that came in and went out, and the distributions made over a stated period.

The Trustee's Duty to Account Under California Law

Probate Code section 16062 sets the core rule. Except as that section and section 16064 provide, the trustee "shall account at least annually, at the termination of the trust, and upon a change of trustee, to each beneficiary to whom income or principal is required or authorized in the trustee's discretion to be currently distributed."

That last phrase matters. Not every beneficiary is owed an annual account. The duty runs to beneficiaries who are entitled to receive distributions now, or who may receive them now at the trustee's discretion. A person whose share only comes into being later, such as after another beneficiary's death, may fall outside that group under the trust's terms. The trust document's distribution language usually answers which side of the line a particular beneficiary stands on.

Two broader duties sit alongside the duty to account. 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." Under Probate Code section 16061, except as section 16069 provides, the trustee must, on a beneficiary's reasonable request, provide requested information about the trust's administration that is relevant to that beneficiary's interest. These information duties are not limited to the current-distribution group described in section 16062.

The duty to account has exceptions. Section 16062 exempts certain living trusts and will trusts created by instruments executed before July 1, 1987, with limited exceptions. Under Probate Code section 16064, a trustee generally need not account to the extent the trust instrument waives it, to a beneficiary who has waived the right in writing, or in the circumstances section 16069 describes. Even so, section 16064 states twice that regardless of a waiver, "upon a showing that it is reasonably likely that a material breach of the trust has occurred, the court may compel the trustee to account." A waiver in the trust is also void as to certain sole trustees that section 16062(e) describes, including some people described in section 21380(a) but not in section 21382.

When a Trustee's Refusal Becomes a Legal Problem

The trigger for court action is written down in Probate Code section 17200(b)(7). Among the proceedings it lists is one to compel the trustee to account to the beneficiary, subject to section 16064, "if the trustee has failed to submit a requested account within 60 days after written request of the beneficiary and no account has been made within six months preceding the request." Both conditions have to be present. A trustee who delivered a proper account four months ago is in a different position from one who has never produced anything.

A parallel route exists for information. The same subdivision allows a petition to compel the trustee to provide information under section 16061 if the trustee has failed to provide it within 60 days after the beneficiary's reasonable written request, and the beneficiary has not received the requested information within the six months preceding the request. It also allows a petition to compel the trustee to provide a copy of the terms of the trust.

The word "written" carries weight. The 60-day period in section 17200(b)(7) runs from a written request, so a phone call or a conversation at a family gathering does not start it. A written request generally does its job when it is dated, identifies the trust and the person asking, and says plainly what is being requested: an account, specific information, or both. A record of when and how it was sent tends to matter later.

Once a proper written request is made, the trustee's response is measured against what was asked. Silence, a promise to "get to it," or a partial reply that does not deliver the requested account or information does not, under the statute's wording, restart the 60-day period. The question is simply whether the trustee submitted what was requested within 60 days.

A refusal to account and a refusal to provide information are related but distinct. The first concerns the formal account under section 16062, which only certain beneficiaries are owed. The second concerns the information duty under section 16061, which reaches more broadly. Both are enforced through the same petition procedure under section 17200.

How to Petition the Court to Compel an Accounting

Probate Code section 17200(a) is the doorway. Except as section 15800 provides, "a trustee or beneficiary of a trust may petition the court under this chapter concerning the internal affairs of the trust or to determine the existence of the trust." In California, trust cases are heard by the Superior Court of California for the relevant county. The California Courts self-help resources describe the court system generally. A fuller walk-through of this procedure appears in the guide to the Probate Code 17200 petition.

Section 17200(b) says that internal-affairs proceedings "include, but are not limited to" the purposes it lists. Compelling an account is one of them. Others on the list include settling accounts and passing upon the trustee's acts, instructing the trustee, reviewing the reasonableness of the trustee's compensation, appointing or removing a trustee, and compelling redress of a breach of trust by any available remedy.

The court's authority once a petition is filed is broad. Under Probate Code section 17206, the court "in its discretion may make any orders and take any other action necessary or proper to dispose of the matters presented by the petition, including appointment of a temporary trustee to administer the trust in whole or in part."

When the refusal is part of a larger problem, Probate Code section 16420 comes into play. If a trustee commits or threatens to commit a breach of trust, meaning a violation of a duty the trustee owes under the trust or the law, a beneficiary or cotrustee may bring a proceeding for any appropriate purpose it lists. Those purposes are: to compel the trustee to perform the trustee's duties; to enjoin the trustee from committing a breach; to compel the trustee to redress a breach by payment of money or otherwise; to appoint a receiver or temporary trustee to take possession of the trust property and administer the trust; to remove the trustee; subject to section 18100, to set aside acts of the trustee; to reduce or deny the trustee's compensation; subject to section 18100, to impose an equitable lien or a constructive trust on trust property; and, subject to section 18100, to trace and recover wrongfully disposed trust property or its proceeds. Section 16420(b) adds that these remedies do not prevent resort to any other appropriate remedy under statute or the common law.

Trustee Removal and Other Consequences of Refusing to Account

A beneficiary who has been stonewalled for months often wonders whether the trustee can simply be replaced. Probate Code section 15642(a) provides that a trustee may be removed in accordance with the trust instrument, by the court on its own motion, or on petition of a settlor, cotrustee or beneficiary under section 17200. The grounds section 15642(b) lists include a breach of the trust, insolvency or other unfitness, hostility or lack of cooperation among cotrustees that impairs administration, failing or declining to act, and excessive compensation. Removal is a decision the court makes on the facts; it is not automatic.

Money consequences are addressed by Probate Code section 16440. A trustee who commits a breach of trust is chargeable with whichever of these is appropriate under the circumstances: any 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 loss of profit resulted from the breach. That charge is called a surcharge. Under section 16440(b), if the trustee acted reasonably and in good faith under the circumstances as the trustee knew them, the court may excuse the trustee in whole or in part if it would be equitable to do so. A surcharge depends on the court's findings and discretion.

An accounting dispute sometimes overlaps with concerns about how trust property is being used. Probate Code section 16004(a) states that 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." Conduct of that kind is often called self-dealing.

The most serious consequence appears in Probate Code section 859. If a court finds that a person has in bad faith wrongfully taken, concealed or disposed of property belonging to a trust, or has done so 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. The person may also, in the court's discretion, be liable for reasonable attorney's fees and costs. Neither result follows unless the court makes the required finding.

A refusal to account does not, standing alone, establish bad faith or a breach. Trustees sometimes delay for reasons that turn out to be ordinary, and a trustee accused of misconduct has the same right to be heard as the beneficiary raising the concern. What a refusal can do is become one factor a court weighs alongside the rest of the trustee's conduct. More on the broader landscape of these disputes appears in the overview of California trust litigation.

The Statute of Limitations on Breach-of-Trust Claims

Probate Code section 16460(a) sets a three-year limit with two branches. If a beneficiary has received an interim or final account in writing, or another written report, that adequately discloses the existence of a claim against the trustee for breach of trust, the claim is barred unless a proceeding is commenced within three years after receipt of the account or report. If no account or report adequately discloses the claim, or the beneficiary receives no written account or report at all, the claim is barred unless a proceeding is commenced within three years after the beneficiary discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, the subject of the claim.

The practical effect is that receiving an accounting can start the clock on claims the account adequately discloses. Section 16460(a)(1) explains that a report adequately discloses a claim "if it provides sufficient information so that the beneficiary knows of the claim or reasonably should have inquired into the existence of the claim." That is why what is in an accounting matters as much as whether one arrives.

A trustee's refusal to account does not hold the period open forever. The second branch runs from when the beneficiary discovered or reasonably should have discovered the subject of the claim, so information that reaches a beneficiary by other means, such as a recorded property sale or a bank record, may start the period even without an account. For a beneficiary who has been waiting a long time, this is often the point that turns a frustrating wait into a question of timing.

What an Accounting Must Contain and What 'Adequate Disclosure' Means

Probate Code section 16063 lists what an account furnished under section 16062 must contain:

• A statement of receipts and disbursements of principal and income during the last complete fiscal year of the trust or since the last account.
• A statement of the trust's assets and liabilities as of the end of that period.
• The trustee's compensation for the period.
• The agents the trustee hired, their relationship to the trustee if any, and their compensation for the period.
• A statement that the recipient may petition the court under section 17200 for review of the account and of the trustee's acts.
• A statement that claims against the trustee for breach of trust may not be made after three years from the date the beneficiary receives an account or report disclosing facts giving rise to the claim.

Measured against that list, an informal summary, a verbal update or a forwarded bank statement generally does not satisfy the duty to account under section 16062. A bank statement may show balances, but it does not identify the trustee's compensation, the agents hired, or the notices the statute requires.

Adequacy ties back to the limitations period. Section 16460(c) notes that a written account or report under that section "may, but need not," satisfy section 16063. The question for the three-year clock is whether the document gave enough information that the beneficiary knew of the claim or reasonably should have looked into it. An incomplete or misleading document may not do that. A beneficiary who receives something labeled an "accounting" is in a better position by comparing it with the section 16063 list before treating the duty as fulfilled. Disputes over the validity of the trust itself are a separate matter, covered in the guide to contesting a trust in California.

If You'd Like to Talk Through a Refused Accounting

A trustee's refusal to account sits where several rules meet: whether the beneficiary is in the group owed an account, whether a written request started the 60-day period, whether a waiver applies, and whether anything already received started the three-year clock. A conversation with an attorney about this kind of dispute typically centers on the trust instrument, the dates and copies of written requests, anything the trustee has sent in response, and any records of trust property sales or transfers. For readers whose question is about setting up or running a trust where nobody disagrees, this page is not written for that situation.

To discuss a refused or incomplete accounting with an attorney, contact California Trust Litigation Lawyers to request a consultation about your dispute.