Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

The terms of the living trust are very important here. I would assume your brother in law is now the sole trustee, but that's not necessarily so. In any event, here are a few suggestions and tips regarding the law that may assist you:

1. It is very important to have a copy of the trust, and to understand the implications of its provisions.

2. Remember that trustees cannot deal with trust property as though it were their own, nor can they make up the rules. The office of trustee is a fiduciary position, and trustees must conduct themselves with the utmost good faith, openness and honesty to protect the interests of the beneficiaries of the trust.

3. As the surviving spouse where there is no will (called "intestacy"), you will inherit all of the community property interest you didn't already own. However, your husband's interest as a beneficiary of the trust in the trust property was probably owned by him as his separate property, and surviving spouses don't always inherit 100% -- it can be either 1/2 or 1/3, depending upon the number of children and other close relatives he had. The rules are set forth in the Probate Code. See in particular section 6401.

4. California recognizes so-called "holographic" wills. A holographic will is a will written in the handwriting of the maker, and signed and dated. Holographic wills do not require witnesses or other formalities. That missing piece of paper may be, or have been, a valif holographic will, and if it is, your husband was not intestate and the terms of the holographic will supersede the provisions of Probate Code 6401, and you may indeed have inherited all of your husband's interest in the trust property.

5. I'm about 98% sure you don't have to "get out" of the house where you are now living, even if it is trust property and the brother-in-law is the sole trustee. The guard at the museum is "in charge" of the paintings, but they are not his; he is only a kind of trustee, and he cannot decide which ones visitors may look at.

6. Trustees are required to make periodic reports to beneficiaries, and to provide the trust beneficiaries with access to information. I suggest demanding a copy of the trust, with all amendments, if you don't have one; and financial reports for each year, including statements of trust property and iincome and expenses. It's possible the "trustee" (who is also a co-beneficiary) is helping himself to more than his share.

7. Your husband's estate needs to go through a probate process. A personal representative needs to be appointed. Since the estate seems to quite valuable, and there is a trustee you don't trust in the picture, I think it is imperative that you get experienced, local legal representation of your own! Find an attorney in your community who has significant current experience in the legal specialty of "administration of estates" or "representation of heirs."