Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
Can an heir receive a copy of the original will, or only a copy of the trust?
The trustee has stolen monies from the trust, and fired as a client by the original attorney, who passed him onto another lawyer. An itemized list was finally provided, but is missing details, in terms of where and how monies were spent. Also bank statements and documents for property sold are missing.
4 Answers from Attorneys
If there is a probate case open, the will should have been deposited with the court and is available there. If no probate has been opened you should consider opening one and then using the probate process to require the will be submitted.
The will should have been deposited with the court for safekeeping even if there is no probate.
I'll add that if it's a trust, a copy is fine, but it sounds like you need to compel a trust accounting from tr trustee. If that's the case, see a probate litigation attorney about filing a petition to do this in probate court.
Obtain your self probate litigation counsel to assist you in filing a petition for an accounting by the trustee, to account for all of the assets, income and expenses of the trust. When you have the information in the form of facts of a trustee response to your pettion, then you can determine if the trustee breached his fiduciary duty from the facts, and make a determination as to whether you want to have the trustee removed from the trust, and whether to report the trustee to the disctrict attorney for a criminal action for embezzlement. What I have suggested should be handled by the probate counsel; if there are suffient funds in the trust, the trust can be reimbursed for the attorney fees, from the trust. You will need to advance fees to the attorney to commence the action.