When a trustee first steps into the position of overseeing and administering a trust, one of the first things he will have to do will be to notify the beneficiaries of the trust. In California, there are strict timeframes within which these notices must be sent out, and the notices themselves must include some specific information regarding the trust.
If a new trustee doesn’t meet the California trust notification requirements fully, he runs the risk of breaching his fiduciary duties and possibly having to deal with some serious legal action being taken against him.
At the Law Offices of Darrell C. Harriman, I am thoroughly knowledgeable about all California trust notification requirements, and am skilled at assisting trustees in complying with them. When trustees rely on me to represent them, they can count on receiving superior representation for all of their trust administration needs.
Under California law, trustees are required to formally notify the beneficiaries of a trust when any significant changes to the trust have transpired. Specifically, these trust notification requirements can come into play when:
When sending notices to beneficiaries, here’s what trustees should generally be aware of:
Once a trustee has satisfied this first critical step of the trust administration process, the beneficiaries of the trust will have an opportunity to challenge the validity of any part of the trust for a distinct period of time. In fact, beneficiaries will have 120 days from the date of the trust notice (or 60 days from the date on which they received this notice) to raise any issues they may have with a trust. This timeframe can extend to as long as four years if notices are not sent to beneficiaries of the trust.
If a beneficiary does raise any challenges to a trust, then these issues will need to be resolved before the rest of the trust administration process can proceed. If, however, no challenges are raised during this period, then: