Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Re: revocable living trust

Well... you can try contacting the attorney that originally created it. But that will only be a little effective. The problem is that any copy you are going to find has to be essentially proven to the court that it was your Mother's original wishes. If your family is complicit (not going to fight about money) it will be a little bit easier, but you still need to get the court to accept it.

You really, really need an attorney on this one unless you manage to find the original at your Mother's primary residence or something like a safety deposit box which was under her control. Trusts are not public documents and as such their are no "database" or central records system that you can get a copy with.

What might wind up happening is that if the trust is no longer valid because of the missing piece, you will have to go to probate court and administer based on any will or the intestacy rules. If you ignore this and try to administer it yourself whoever is the trustee/executor of your Mother's estate will be potentially liable to beneficiaries if their is any challenge.

Contact an attorney as soon as you can, sorry I know this is not good news.