Practice area
Being named successor trustee is a job, and a legal duty.
Someone trusted you with this, usually without explaining what it involves. There are statutory deadlines that start running at the date of death, and a trustee who misses them can be held personally responsible.
60 days
Deadline to serve notice under Probate Code ยง16061.7.
120 days
Contest window that proper notice starts running.
Step-up in basis
Date-of-death valuations protect beneficiaries from capital gains.
Personal exposure
Trustees can be sued individually for breach of duty.
The first deadline starts immediately
Under California Probate Code section 16061.7, a successor trustee must serve notice on all beneficiaries and on the decedent's heirs within sixty days of the death. The notice has required contents, and serving it correctly starts a one-hundred-twenty-day clock during which someone can contest the trust.
Serving it late, or leaving it out, does not make the contest go away. It leaves the window open indefinitely.
What the job actually involves
Locating and securing assets. Obtaining date-of-death valuations, which matter enormously for the beneficiaries' future capital gains because of the step-up in basis. Getting a taxpayer identification number for the trust. Paying legitimate debts and rejecting illegitimate ones. Filing a final personal income tax return and, often, a fiduciary return.
Then distributing, in the right order, in the right proportions, with the right releases in hand.
Personal liability is real
A trustee owes fiduciary duties of loyalty, impartiality among beneficiaries, and prudent management. Breach them and a beneficiary can sue you personally. The most common problems are not theft; they are informality: distributing early to a sympathetic sibling, mixing trust funds with your own, or never producing an accounting.
Most of this is avoidable with guidance in the first month.
Common questions
Trust Administration
Do I need an attorney to administer a trust?
Not legally. But the notice requirements, tax filings, and accounting obligations carry real deadlines and real personal liability, and trustee fees paid for competent help come out of the trust rather than your pocket.
Can I be paid for serving as trustee?
Usually yes. The trust document may set compensation; otherwise California allows reasonable compensation. Taking it correctly and documenting it matters, because trustee compensation is a common flashpoint among beneficiaries.
What if a beneficiary is threatening to sue?
Stop distributing, preserve every record, and get advice before responding. Informal reassurance offered in the first weeks is what most often gets used against a trustee later.
Related
Other areas of the practice
Talk it through with an attorney.
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