Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
Can an individual who is a trustee file with the probate court. There has been executer misconduct such as filing estate taxes months after they were due, having 900,000 in a non interest bearing account. Been almost two years with a will and trust and nothing has been distributed. They have spent over 70K on attorney's fees. What can we do? We have already spent 5000 on an attorney who tells us that he has done all he can without going to court.
3 Answers from Attorneys
If your question is whether you can challenge the executor's actions, or attempt to have him/her removed, without a lawyer, the answer is most likely no.
Suggest you obtain the services of a probate/trust litigation lawyer to review all of the documents, and then decide the course of action, which will probably be litigation to remedy the actions of the trustee or other person involved. Be prepared to advance significant fees in initiating any legal action involving litigation; there may be recovery you can be compensated fo,r if there is in fact breach of fiduciary duty owed to the trust and the beneficiares.
This situation appears complicated, given that both a will and a trust are involved.
It may be that you have exhausted all your avenues short of litigation, and that filing an appropriate petition for relief with the probate court is your only option.
To address your initial question, trustees can and often do file probate petitions. It is not possible to tell whether you can file a petition against the administrator of the estate. You definitely could file such a petition, if the trust is an estate beneficiary;
Probate litigation is expensive. The trustee's fees are also often paid by the trust, though the law is a bit complicated to explain here. If it is clear that you will eventually receive a trust or probate distribution, then an attorney may be willing to wait for a portion of his or her fees until that distribution occurs. This is something you will need to discuss with your attorney.