Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

probably not. It depends on the terms of the trust document. If it authorizes you to pay trust assets "to or for the benefit of" your dad, you could make payments for his care rather than to him directly. You should have an attorney review the document.

You have to read the trust documents. There are all kinds of possible ways to define the options available to trustees for meeting the needs of beneficiaries. Chances are very slim that you can just withhold the money, but you may have options for how it is disbursed. Also, if someone else is supposed to be spending the money for him to meet his needs and is not doing so, you may have a right to put a stop to that in various ways, up to and including charging them with elder financial abuse. You should sit down with a local lawyer about this.

You might just petition a court to be his conservator. In that way you can oversee his finances and care.