Tenancy in a Contentious Trust

[12knots]

My question is split between estate planning and tenancy law in California. I have been a rent paying tenant in a small owner-occupied rental property for more than 20+ years with no written contract. The property was formerly my father's sole property after a divorce from my mother. My father remarried and added his much younger wife to the deed a few years after. A few years ago the ownership of the property was changed and is now currently owned by a family trust with my father and his wife as trustees and myself as a beneficiary.

I have been told by my father that the intent after his passing would be to sell the property with an unspecified percentage share of the proceeds going to me. I am not on good terms with his second wife and I have not been allowed to see the entire trust instrument. I fear my father's wife in the future will try to either indefinitely stall the sale of the property or remove me as quickly as possible for her benefit. As a trust beneficiary, would I have any rights that extend beyond regular tenancy law or would the details of my tenancy and rights have to be spelled out specifically in the trust instrument?

 

[Zigner]

...I have not been allowed to see the entire trust instrument.

At this point, ANYTHING would be conjecture.

 

[adjusterjack]

A few years ago the ownership of the property was changed and is now currently owned by a family trust with my father and his wife as trustees and myself as a beneficiary.

I suggest you confirm that by looking up that deed at the county recorder and getting a copy. And make sure there haven't been any subsequent deeds.

I have been told by my father that the intent after his passing would be to sell the property with an unspecified percentage share of the proceeds going to me.

His "intent" means nothing if it's not specified in the trust. "I was told" is the most dangerous phrase in the English language.

I have not been allowed to see the entire trust instrument.

Your father won't give you a copy?

I suggest you somehow arrange a private meeting with your father when his wife is not around and address these issues.

would the details of my tenancy and rights have to be spelled out specifically in the trust instrument?

That.

Without your continued tenancy being spelled out in the trust document, the landlord (the trust represented by the trustee) need only give you 60 days written notice of termination of your tenancy as required by CA landlord tenant statute 1946.1:

Law section (ca.gov)

The termination of tenancy may happen immediately upon the death of your father even if you are entitled to a share of the proceeds of sale at some future time. If the wife decides to sell, she is likely to want the dwelling empty and cleaned out for showings.

 

[zddoodah]

I have been a rent paying tenant in a small owner-occupied rental property for more than 20+ years with no written contract.

So...you rent a room in someone's (your father's and stepmother's) house?

I have been told by my father that the intent after his passing would be to sell the property with an unspecified percentage share of the proceeds going to me.

Whose intent? Your father's? His wife's? Have you seen the trust instrument such that you can tell us what it says about this?

I have not been allowed to see the entire trust instrument.

That implies that you've seen some portion of it. Did you intend that implication? If so, what portion have you seen?

I fear my father's wife in the future will try to either indefinitely stall the sale of the property or remove me as quickly as possible for her benefit. As a trust beneficiary, would I have any rights that extend beyond regular tenancy law or would the details of my tenancy and rights have to be spelled out specifically in the trust instrument?

You have rights as a tenant under California law. The nature and extent of any rights beyond that depend on the terms of the trust.

Have you considered rendering the issue moot by moving out of your father's home and getting a place of your own?

 

[AlmostThere]

I want to point out that this is not your property. It was never owned by you, and you have zero rights to it. Right now, it is owned by a family trust. Your best bet is to live your life as if you have zero interest in it until you are told otherwise.

 

[TrustUser]

i disagree with the above advice. the op needs to do something while the father is alive, if he has any hopes of getting anything.

if the father truly wants his son to have something, then said son should get said something.

and it seems pretty obvious to me that he aint getting it, if it is left up to the new wife