Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
My sister is the Trustee for my mothers Trust. I am a co-trustee for the Trust but i was asked to sign a "decline to act" statement and am therefore now barred from any financial transaction paper by Trustee sister created. She will only share the information from the date of mother's death. It has been over 8 months and I still can get no satisfaction from the Trust Attorney, her para-legal or my sister. Don't I have any rights in this matter? I cannot see the banking statements as my Trustee sister put my name on the account as co-beneficiary, and told them she is the only Trustee of the Trust. That is untrue as I am also a co-trustee, co-beneficiary of my mother's will and Trust. The attorney's para-legal is like a lion at the door and continues to tell me I have no right to see the Trust accounts that my Trustee sister shared with my mother, joint checking, joint savings, joint money market and stock accounts I knew nothing about until I asked for a list of assets of the Trust due to its first stages of closing. The para-legal keeps telling me I have no rights here and that I should just sign the statement saying under the laws of the state in which the Trust and Will were made, I swear under penalty of purjury that this final accounting of the Trust is true and I agree with it. Does signing this statement mean I can not longer investigate the actions of my Trustee sister as I think she has misused her powers and committed Breach of Fiduciary Trust, has hidden assets, has failed to report anything of value to me, has used undo influence on my mother who had extremely short term memory loss and dementia. My sister took her to the broker and had her sign the investment papers and my mother would do anything my sister told her to. In her rational years she abhorred the stock market and only had her money in T-bills. What are my rights here. Should I sign the under penalty of perjury statement. Will that stop my from futher legal action against my Trustee sister? My sister has also held up about $100.K of monies distribution until I fall in line and shut-up. Is this legal, it is done through the Trust attorney. It's been 16 months now since my mom passed. Thank you so much...
1 Answer from Attorneys
If the trust is administered in California, you have the right to a trust accounting once a year and information about the trust assets/liabilities and administration under Probate Code section 16061. You can make your written demand on your sister (and her attorney as well), and if you don't get a satisfactory or complete answer within 60 days, you can file a petition in probate court to compel the accounting and release of information.
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