Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

If the property is mentioned in the trust, you should be able to file a special petition with the court asking for a determination of ownership. That would be less expensive than a full probate, If there is no mention of the house in the trust, probate may be required. I have done a number of these.

some form of probate will be required. unfortunately, this is a common problem, particularly when a qualified estate planning attorney is not used to prepare the trust and related documents. please contact my offfice if i can be of assistance.

Depending on the county, you may be able to avoid probate by filing a specific trust petition. This trust petition is faster and much cheaper. I do them quite often as this is a common problem. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or would like my assistance.

Sincerely,

Kai H Wessels, Esq.

You can�t deed the property into the trust; your alternatives are a motion before the probate court to place the property into the trust or alternatively, probate. The grounds for such a motion typically are that the Settlor intended to place the property into the trust and that there is some written document, independent of the trust, that the Settlor intended to do so. In addition, some trusts have dragnet clauses that may be broad enough to include the missed asset. If you want further information on this, please contact me at 510 724-2020, David R. Baker. I work primarily in Contra Costa County where the Petition or Probate may be brought if the decedent was a resident of that County when he passed away.