Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
Can I petition for subpoena without an attorney?
The trustee has breached his fiduciary duty by stealing monies from the trust, and hiding his actions from heirs and estate attorney. He was caught last year, and finally provided an incomplete itemized list. The original attorney fired him as a client, and passed him onto a new attorney. This new attorney offered me a waiver to sign away rights to my inheritance. If I sign this waiver, the trustee will cut me a check for $17K. I do not know what my inheritance should be, because bank statements are missing, and details for the itemized list is missing, as well.
3 Answers from Attorneys
Have you filed a petition with the court? In order to issue a subpoena, you must have a court case number.
With 17K at stake, you may want to speak to an attorney about representing you against the trusteee.
The proper procedure seems to be a petition for accounting with the superior court in the county where the trust is centered. You may also want to petition to surcharge the trustee, so that he reimburses the trust for the losses.
In theory, you can do this on your own. You must comply with all technicalities however, and most pro per plaintiffs get overwhelmed in the process. I would definitely hire an attorney for this. Pressure from an attorney may also persuade the trustee to behave. Finally, some attorneys may be willing to wait for a distribution of the estate to collect some part of their fees.
Best of luck to you.
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