Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
There is an Invervivos Living Trust created in California in 1991 for husband and wife settlors (my grandparents). Upon the death of the first spouse, the Trust Estate was to be split into a Survivor's Trust and Decedent's Trust. The trust states "From the remainder of the Trust, the Trustee shall pay to or apply for the benefit of the surviving spouse all income from the Decedent's Trust and such sums from principal as the Trustee, in the Trustee's discrtion, considers necessary for the beneficiary's proper care, education, support and maintenance. Payments from principal to the surviving spouse shall be made first from the Survivor's Trust until it is exhausted, then from the Decedent's Trust until it is exhausted."
I understand this to mean that survivor had immediate access to survivor trust income, survivor principal, and probably decedent trust income; and that survivor had access to decedent trust principal after survivior trust principal was exhausted. Upon death of grandfather, trust assets were about 1,300,000. I presume according to the trust around 650,000 of principal should have been left untouched in the Decedent's Trust, as I don't believe grandmother needed access to the decedent trust principal.
As far as distribution, the trust states "After the death of the surviving spouse and payment of all expenses and taxes of every kind to be paid by the Sucessor Trustee, the Sucessor Trustee shall distribute all of the remaining principal and income of the Decedent's Trust and the Survivor's Trust as follows: a. One-half of the entire Trust Estate shall be distributed in equal shares to Trustors' granddaughters (my sister and I)...and one-half divided equally between Trustors' son (my uncle)...and Trustors' daughter (my mom)... If (my uncle) should predecease Trustors, then his share shall go to (my mom). If (my mom) predeceases Trustors, any share to which she might have been entitled shall go in equal shares to Trustors' granddaughters..." Near the end the trust states "If any beneficiary under this Trust, singly or in conjunction with any other person or persons, contests in any Court the validity of this Trust or of either Settlor's Last Will or seeks to obtain and adjudication in any proceeding in any Court that this Trust or any of its provisions or that such Will or any of its provisions is void, or seeks otherwise to void, nullify, or set aside this Trust or any of its provisions, then that person's right to take any interest given to him or her by this Trust shall be determined as it would have been determined if the person had predeceased the execution of this Family Trust without surviving issue."
Grandfather died 1992, with Trust assets around 1,300,000. The trustee at the time, my grandmother, did not divide and allocate the Trust Estate into survivor and decedent; it was administered as one combined trust. Grandmother died recently, and her daughter is the trustee.
My uncle settled out of the trust for about 20,000. The remaining three beneficiaries will receive a "First and Final Account...and Report of Successor Trustee on Termination of Trust and Distribution of Remainder Beneficiaries"
There is about 600,000 left in the entire Trust Estate. The First and Final Account states "The property on hand is herewith distributed as follows" that my uncle is entitled to 3/8, my mom 3/8, myself 1/8, my sister 1/8. Trustee (my mom) states that my sister and I still only get 1/8, even though my uncle settled out of the trust, and my mom says she will get the rest. When I asked my mom about the survivor/decedent issue, and why they can't go back and leave around 600,000 of principal untouched to be distributed fairly, she either doesn't answer or I get funny answers like "well it didn't compute right when we factored in my brother's advancements". If we don't object to this accounting in 180 days we won't be able to object to it in the future.
Is the proposed distribution of 1/8 fair to me? If not, what do you think is fair? Should I object?
3 Answers from Attorneys
You need to go see a probate lawyer with this.
If I read it correctly, isn't your mother entitled to the entire estate? Due to the complicated nature of what has happened, I recommend you make an appointment with a local estate planning/probate attorney.
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