Access to Trust Documents

What is the name of your state? California

My mother set up a revocable living trust with my sister and I as co-successor trustees and also executors of her will. She sent us detailed accountings of her assets and gave us specific instructions about where she kept the documents and keys to her safe deposit boxes, etc. The thing she never imagined is that her husband (our step-father) is not allowing us access to the documents as they are in her house. I say "her" and not "their" because she held title to the house in her name only and paid for it with pre-marital assets. We have not had an adversarial relationship at all with her husband, but I suspect that his daughter is counseling him to try to contest the will and trust. How do you suggest we access the will/trust that are in the house and get on with the process? What if he destroys the documents? (We have proof that the trust exists but not the trust document itself.)

You have a substantive problem. If you don't have a copy, you have no idea what it says beyond your word. You might go to the attorney who created the trust, but I don't know what you're going to get there. "Proof" a trust existed will get you nowhere. At some point the trust must be produced.

At best, you are going to have a court fight. You will be unable to do this on your own. Get an attorney now as you will need one at some point if he remains intransigent and you might find the fight easier and cheaper if you do the right things up front.

Your mother is deceased, right?

Who is trustee of the trust? If it is her husband, you can request a copy of the trust by sending the trustee a certified letter requesting such (it would be preferable to have your attorney draft the letter on your behalf so that trustee will be less likely to ignore the request).

Do you know whether she hired the services of an attorney to help her draft the trust and who that attorney might be?

If you know that many or most of the assets have been officially titled in the name of the trust, then you don't have much cause for concern. Just try to be polite as possible to the trustee until you have received the trust document and had your attorney evaluate it.

Normally the will is going to be filed for probate within 30-60 days after the death and you can obtain a copy of that from the county courthouse. If it is not filed within that time period, consult a probate attorney about how to proceed to get probate opened up, and let's hope that husband is named as a beneficiary in either the will or the trust, or both, because as a surviving spouse he has a right to a certain portion of the estate assets.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

You might also be able to find evidence to support your claims if any title to property had been transferred into the trust. For instance, if the house that was your mother's had been transferred to the trust, the county will have a record of the change. The same might be true of bank accounts, savings accounts, CDs, or brokerage accounts.

The other posters are correct, you will likely need to speak with an attorney if your step-father may be contesting the will or trust.