Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Re: executor of trust costs

Most trusts allow the trustee to borrow money for trust purposes. If you have the power to borrow money, then your only other concern would be reasonabliness of terms because borrowing from yourself creates a conflict of interest. Since you have a duty to aviod conflicts, borrowing from yourself is not a good idea. You should probably ask the other beneficiaries to agree to the terms of your loan. What are the statutory fees? Usually trustees are paid a reasonable fee for their services.

Re: executor of trust costs

The general answer is "yes", you can be reimbursed as long as the expenses are reasonable. But is there a reason you aren't using the trust's money (rather than your own) to pay for these expenses? If the trust has sufficient "liquid" assets (bank account, CDs, etc.) to pay for these expenses, then you should be using the trust's monies for them.

CAUTION: It would be extremely wise to let the beneficiaries know now - ahead of time - what you are spending and why you are spending it. That puts them "on notice" so that they can go to court and complain now. It can save you a nasty surprise later when they file a lawsuit saying that you overspent or hired your own relatives to help clean up or that it was stupid to renovate the house because it's a "scraper" anyway, etc. etc.

California law permits you to send out a "Notice of Proposed Action" to the beneficiaries that says, in effect "I intend to spend $20,000 to do the following - hire a houscleaner for $2,000, hire a carpenter to fix the staircase, hire a plumber to repipe the bathroom ....".

You give them 30 days' notice of what you intend to do and what you intend to spend. If they don't complain in that time period, they have a much harder time complaining later.

This information is not intended to substitute for professional legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. You should accept legal advice only from a licensed legal professional with whom you have an attorney-client relationship.

Re: executor of trust costs

You are not executor of a trust. Trusts don't have executors. Get legal help. The cost is covered by the estate.