Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

You will need some sort of probate Court involvement for sure. It sounds like a great case for a Heggstad petition. I encourage you to do a google search for this topic. Or to make it easier for you here is a link to my blog posts about the topic. Feel free to contact me to discuss your case one-on-one. I do Heggstads throughout California! -John

http://www.californiaprobate.info/category/heggstad-petitions

You do not indicate whether your father is still alive. If he is he needs to transfer the property into his trust, using a trust transfer deed. Otherwise, you likely will need an attorney to help your make the transfer as suggested by Mr. Palley.

I agree with Mr. Palley. It does sound like you will need to file a Heggstad petition in Probate. It sometimes happens that a decedent with a trust fails to properly transfer all of his assets into the name of the trust. In your father's case, there would have had to be a transfer from him individually to him as trustee for his trust. Usually, the property is referenced as an asset of the trust within the trust, even though no deed is ever executed to accomplish this. In such circumstances, a Heggstad motion petitions the court to consider that the language of the trust instrument or attached schedule of trust assets as showing that the settlor intended the assets to be part of the trust estate. If the Petition is successful, then the court will allow the property to be distributed through the trust. In other words, you would ultimately be able to transfer it into your name.