Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

The trust can certainly do that--your mother would have discretion to say no, but if she agrees, the trust can own some part of real estate with you. The trust's portion also has the advantage of being shielded from your creditors if the trust has a spendthrift clause.

The Trustee, in this instance, your mother, would decide if that was an appropriate investment for the Trust to make on the beneficiary's (you) behalf. There is no prohibition against it. The Trust could obtain a note secured by a deed of trust against the property or a lien such as you suggest. Typically, the trust provisions relating to young persons are drafted as such (withholding a certain amount of monies until a person is older and hopefully wiser) to protect the inheritance from being squandered by someone who is perhaps too immature to save it or properly preserve it. You sound like you are quite the opposite and the trustee would not breach the fiduciary duty by making such a sound investment on your behalf. Again, a notice of disclosure and agreement would be signed by you since the trustee's real danger in her capacity as trustee for 8 years is that you come back to her and accuse her of failing in her duty. Normally, if everyone is on the same page and it does not specifically violate the documents, there is wide latitude given to reasonable judgment.