Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
My mother died Nov 29, 2009. Several years before she put the Deed to the condo that was given to me by my dad in 1994 in a Trust. She made my aunt, her sister, who is 83, the primary Trustee. She also left funds in the Trust for the upkeep, repairs, property taxes and monthly homeowners association dues. Once I got a copy of her Will and the Trust, I sent the bills for the dues to my aunt and continued paying the other bills. My aunt refused to pay the dues and let them get 6 months in arrears. To avoid hassles I made an agreement with the Homeowners Association to pay the monthly dues plus an additional amount to bring the account current. For some reason my aunt now wants to sell my condo and set up a Special Needs Trust, administered by her, which also pays her a monthly fee, and wants me to move out of the home I have lived in for 19 years, find another place to live and pay the rent for such place from the proceeds of the condo sale, which will be ZERO because after 19 yrs this place is in no way maketable and there will only be cash for her to pay herself. My mother's will states that she leaves the "real property at....address... to the Trustee of the Trust FOR THE BENEFIT OF...MY NAME." Selling my home will not benefit anyone but her and her lawyers and I will be left homeless. What can I do to get this matter before a Judge who will see how ridiculous this plan is? My son, who is the third alternate trustee also lives here with me and he will be homeless also. I am disabled and the amount I get from the govmt each month just barely pays all the bills. I certainly will never be able to pay rent on anyplace and no place could compare to this one. I think she is out of money and just wants the cash from the sale of the condo so she can continue paying herself for doing nothing and pay off the lawyers. I got an e-mail from her lawyer today saying they are moving forward with eviction. How do I stop them?
1 Answer from Attorneys
If your father gave you full title to the condo then it is fully yours and could not be put into a trust by your mother. She could only transfer to a trust that which she owned at the time of the transfer. If no trust existed before her death, the property could not be transferred to the Trust as the Trust did not existed upon her death. When a Trust is set up, the Trustee must follow all the terms of the Trust; if ther is no statement that a special needs trust can be set up, the Trustee probably can not set one up [I am not positive as to that]. If there is no provision for selling the condo, it can not be sold without court order changing the terms of the trust. If there is no pending court case, you will have to file suit against the Trust requesting her removal and an accounting. You first should flnd out what the basis of her claim to be able to sell the condo is based upon and check out the title of ownership as to the property. dependingupon wht the additional facts of the case are, there may be other things you should also do.
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