San Jose Trust & Estate Litigation Attorney

Once a trustee serves the notification required by Probate Code section 16061.7, Probate Code section 16061.8 gives you 120 days from the date that notice is served to bring an action contesting the trust. If a copy of the trust terms is delivered to you during that window, you have until the later of the 120 days or 60 days from that delivery. Missing the deadline generally ends the claim, so the date on the notice matters.

The common grounds are lack of capacity, undue influence, fraud, duress, mistake, forgery, and improper execution. Being unhappy with what a document says is not a ground on its own. A contest asks whether the document, or an amendment to it, reflects the person’s own free decision made with the capacity the law requires.

Not automatically. California enforces no-contest clauses narrowly. The clause only bites in limited circumstances, and a direct contest brought with probable cause is treated differently from one brought without it. Whether a clause reaches your particular petition depends on the wording of the document and what you are actually asking the court to do, so it should be read before you file anything.

Generally, someone with standing: a beneficiary named in the document, a beneficiary of an earlier version, or an heir who would inherit if the document failed. A neighbour or a friend with an opinion does not have standing. Standing is one of the first things a court looks at, and it is worth confirming before spending anything on a dispute.

California trustees owe real duties. Probate Code sections 16060 and 16061 require a trustee to keep beneficiaries reasonably informed, and section 16062 requires an accounting at least annually, on termination of the trust, and on a change of trustee. If those duties are being ignored, a beneficiary can petition the court to compel information or an accounting.

By petition to the court. Probate Code section 15642 lets a settlor, cotrustee, or beneficiary petition for removal, and it lists specific grounds including breach of trust, insolvency or unfitness, failure or refusal to act, excessive compensation, and substantial inability to manage the trust’s financial resources. A court can also act on its own motion or under the terms of the trust itself.

Probate Code section 16440 sets how liability is measured, which can include any loss to the trust, any profit the trustee made, and profit the trust would have made but for the breach. The same section also allows a court to excuse a trustee who acted reasonably and in good faith. Outcomes turn entirely on the facts and the records.

Trust and estate matters for this area are heard in the probate division of the Santa Clara County Superior Court. Filing in the right court, on the right petition, and within the deadlines is most of the early work in a dispute, and it is where self-represented parties most often lose ground.