Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
Duty of Executor/Trustee to share trust info w/disinherited parties
I am the executor of my uncle's will, and the successor trustee to his trust. My uncle had a bitter relationship with his children, and wished to protect his estate from them. Accordingly, he wrote a one-page will in which he left each child one dollar. He also drafted a separate trust, in which they were not mentioned, and provided to me with the trust a list of confidential instructions for the disposition of his estate, including a list of beneficiaries, in which they are also not mentioned. He was very clear about wanting his instructions to be confidential. I provided the children with a copy of his one page will, in which they are named, along with a check for one dollar each. They are now demanding copies of all confidential trust documents. Am I obliged to provide such copies? I don't want to violate the law, but I also don't want to violate my uncle's wishes and instructions.
Help!
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Duty of Executor/Trustee to share trust info w/disinherited parties
For California, they would be entitled to a copy of the trust, even if they're not mentioned in it, because they're the intestate heirs of your uncle. To start the statute of limitations period for contesting the trust, you'll need to send them the trust notification outlined in Probate Code section 16061.7.
They may threaten to overturn the trust, but the standard of proof is high, and it sounds like your uncle was fairly set in his opinion for quite a while. Even so, be prepared.
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