Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

My father died a few years ago, and recently his parents, my paternal grandparents died. In their living Trust, they specifically disinherited two of my aunts (dad's sisters) but not my dead aunt or her daughter (my cousin who is the Sole Beneficiary) and her brother is disinherited too. The strange thing is my father, who is dead, and always maintained a relationship with his parents is not mentioned in the Trust at all. He is forgotten and omitted. Do I have any grounds to inherit his share since he wasn't disinherited, nor was I? thanks.


Asked on 1/26/15, 3:46 pm

3 Answers from Attorneys

Scott Jordan Jordan Law Office

Do you have a copy of the trust document? The trust document will control who receives from the estate.

You mention that your cousin is the Sole Beneficiary. Is she listed as the only person to receive from the trust? If that is the case, you probably have no grounds to challenge the trust.

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Answered on 1/26/15, 4:06 pm
Aaron Feldman Feldman Law Group

Children do not have a right to inherit from their parents. Omitted heirs are children born after the will (or Trust) was prepared and spouses who married after the date of the will. Was your father a beneficiary in prior versions of their estate plan? Could the omission have been a mistake caused by some cognitive issues? Perhaps, but not likely and unfortunately very difficult to prevail because as noted above, your father had no legal right to inherit.

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Answered on 1/26/15, 5:03 pm
Len Tillem Tillem McNichol & Brown

The issue is the circumstances surrounding the creation of the trust. How old were your grandparents? Did they suffer from dementia or Alzheimer's? Did your cousin who inherits everything pick the lawyer, drive them to the appointment and sit in on the meeting? What kind of relationship did you have with your grandparents? There are many factors that impact on whether or not you may have a good case.

What's supposed to happen is that the trustee should give you a notice under Probate Code section 16061.7 as you are one of the persons who would inherit from your grandparents if they didn't have an estate plan. This notice triggers a 120 day countdown on your right to file a court petition challenging the validity of the trust. Keep this in mind, because if you wait too long, then you can't do anything even if there's a case.

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Answered on 1/27/15, 9:10 am


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