Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

I am not positive, but if the house were properly placed into a trust, your mother was no longer the legal owner of the home so it should not be subject to those debts unless the debts were secured by the house. So if the money is owed to a bank because of a mortgage taken out with the house as security for the loan, the bank could get around the trust. If the trust was set up by an attorney or other professional, contact them and ask what the purpose was and this question. If the estate was probated, all creditors should have been given notice of her death