Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

You need to get additional information. If you were originally appointed trustee, then your sister would need to have had a court hearing to remove you and you would have had to been notified of the hearing. Did the niece and nephew atempt to change the trust and remove you as trustee; they could only do so if it was a revocable trust, they ended the trust, and then created a new trust. I would guess that what you really mean is their parents created a trust with the niece and nephew as receipents of the trust funds. For your sister to be appointed trustee, there would have had to been a hearing in the state where the trust was created and you would have to have been notified so that you could contest it.

What you claim the New Jersey attorney says is not legally correct. Failure to answer a complaint never results in a finding of contempt. You never have to answer a complaint until you are properly served in person or after such attempts are unsuccessful by substituted service. Getting something in the mail is not service.

A verified complaint means that the plaintiff has added a line to the end of the complaint stating that it is true and correct. In California there is little difference between a verified and unverified complaint. A trustee is never liable for attorney fees as to the trust; the trust itself has to pay any attorney fees incurred by the trustee.

You need to demand of the NJ attorney answers and explanations of all of the above and then you probably will need to see an attorney specializing in trust law to find out what is actualy happening. If you are still the trustee then the trust will have to pay for the legal fees.