Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
My brother was the trustee of my mothers trust, He never provided the rest of us with copy of trust , he just gave us a check, some of the things he told me don't add up, like the sale of the house was over 300000.00 more than the amount paid out, he said mom had a lot of bills. But my mother told me her bills totaled about 130,000.00. What is the statue of limitations on this. Barbara
3 Answers from Attorneys
Usually the state of limitations is three years to sue the trustee based on items that would be included in a trust accounting, but the three years starts to run from the time the beneficiaries receive the accounting--it sounds like you never received one in this case. If you signed any sort of waiver, perhaps a statute applies. I'd recommend reviewing the timeline and the documents with an attorney to see whether you should pursue further action.
I agree with Mr Johnson. A trustee should provide you with a complete accounting of the assets in the trust at the date of death and its income and expenses during the administration. You should demand this information as well as a copy of the trust. If they are not provided, engage counsel to obtain them.
I agree with both of the above answers, but I further advise you obtain the assistance of probate/trust litigation attorney immediately, as the the applicable statute of limitation time limitation in which an action, against the trustee, may be filed, may be running; as you did not provide a date of death or other relevant time, ie receipt of notice of right to receive copy of trust; Once the applicable statutorty time limitation has run, you may be prevented in bringing any type of action against the trustee, for example a pettion for an accounting.