Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

There is no automatic answer. It would usually be governed by the terms of the documents. You also make it hard to answer by referring to a "will" and a "trustee." Wills are administered by an "executor." Trustees administer trusts. Trusts have beneficiaries. Wills have "heirs" or "legatees." The rules are very different for wills versus trusts. Trusts are almost entirely governed by the trust documents. There is limited law that governs them as long as they are properly set up, and there is no misconduct by the trustee. If something isn't covered by the terms of the trust documents the law is rather sparse. Wills on the other hand, have a very large and very ancient body of laws governing what to do if a will doesn't properly address an issue or is ambiguous. But in any case the starting point is "what does the document say?"