Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
California Law. My mother inherited some money from a cousin and all was settled. Since then my mother has passed away, her estate and trust has been settled and closed for a couple of years. Recently more money was found in my cousin's estate.
My mother is still listed as a beneficiary to this cousin and we [my sisters and I] were our mother's sole beneficiaries. Since the trust has closed one sister has recently passed away that now leaves just two of us.
There are three of us [my sister, myself and a cousin [cousin's father co-beneficiary with my mother has also passed away] that would be the next in line in the cousin's estate as we are the only three relatives to this cousin [determined by a genealogy search].
Question is... is my sister's two children entitled to any of this money? Are the rules of my mother's trust still in play even if her trust has been closed? I realized this is a complicated question and hopefully I have made myself clear.
Thank you,
1 Answer from Attorneys
Your deceased sister's children are probably entitled to her share of any new monies. The newly found money from the cousin goes to your mother's estate/trust. Since your sister's rights to a share of that estate/trust were fixed when your mother died it should make no difference that she subsequently died. To be sure, someone will have to sit down with you to go over the family tree and the relevant documents. It is not likely that it would take very long or cost very much for a lawyer to do that.
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