If you are planning to contest a decedent’s trust, there is a lot you will need to consider.
For one, you will need to verify you have legal standing to contest the trust. Standing means that you have a financial interest in the outcome of the matter. If winning your contest would mean that you’d receive a greater inheritance than the inheritance you’re receiving currently, you have standing. Most of the time, parties with standing in a trust contest include trust beneficiaries, beneficiaries under prior versions of the trust and the decedent’s heirs.
Second, you must ensure that your grounds for contesting the trust are valid. In California, simply being unhappy with your inheritance is not an acceptable reason for contesting a trust. Instead, you must demonstrate that the trust does not reflect the true intentions of the trust creator (known as the settlor, grantor or trustor). The most common grounds for contesting a trust include undue influence, fraud, and the settlor having lacked the necessary capacity to create a trust when they did.
Finally, you will need to think long and hard about whether the cost of contesting a trust would be worthwhile for you. You should take into account both monetary and non-monetary costs. For example, while you could have to spend a lot of money to litigate your trust contest, you also could have to dedicate considerable time and energy to it. In addition, there could be emotional costs involved.
Upon receiving a copy of the decedent’s trust from the successor trustee, it’s crucial you immediately consider your standing and grounds for contesting the trust, as well as potential costs. Your best course of action would be to consult with a knowledgeable lawyer for wills and trusts, who could review the trust and your concerns surrounding it, and accordingly provide guidance on how to proceed.
Most importantly, however, teaming up with a lawyer can help guarantee the statute of limitations for a trust contest in California does not elapse before you’ve had a chance to file your trust contest petition. Your lawyer will stay on top of important deadlines, leaving you with fewer things to stress over.
That said, if you fail to get in touch with a lawyer within the established time frame to contest a trust in California, there may not be anything a lawyer can do to help you.
Although the trust contest statute of limitations can seem like a trivial detail compared to other considerations when contesting a trust, ignoring it could completely derail your legal efforts, leaving you without any recourse. Thus, it’s crucial to take the time to thoroughly understand California’s trust contest statute of limitations before proceeding further.
In the following sections, we outline the five most important facts to know about the statute of limitations to contest a trust in California.
Trust Contest Statute of Limitations: 5 Facts to Know
Do you know how a trust works after death? When a settlor dies, their trust usually becomes irrevocable and the person whom they nominated to serve as successor trustee assumes control over their trust.
A successor trustee’s responsibilities include serving a notice to beneficiaries of the trust and other interested parties to alert them that trust administration has begun, that they have a right to request a copy of the trust from the trustee, and that they are entitled to bring a trust contest within the allotted time frame to contest a trust in California, which we’ll go over in the next section. According to California Probate Code section 16061.7, it is required for trustees to serve this notice within 60 days of the settlor’s death.
Once the trustee has served the necessary notices, they can start to inventory trust assets, account for them and pay the trust’s debts and expenses.
Trusts, unlike estates, are not subject to the probate process. As a result, the trustee generally would not need to delay trust distributions to beneficiaries. That said, if a trust contest or another claim is pending that could affect the distribution of trust assets, the trustee may need to hold off on distributing the assets at issue.
Because of how challenging it could be to recover assets that have already been distributed, it’s easy to see why it’s necessary to maintain a short trust contest statute of limitations. If it were possible to bring a trust contest a year after the settlor’s death, the trustee’s ability to carry out the provisions of the trust and make distributions would be limited, which, in turn, could hinder the progress of administration.
How long do you have to contest a trust in California? Continue reading to explore five important facts to know about the California trust contest statute of limitations.
1. The California Trust Contest Statute of Limitations is 120 Days
How long does a beneficiary have to contest a trust? How long does an heir have to contest a trust? How long does a trustee have to contest a trust?
Fortunately, California keeps things simple by maintaining the same deadline for all interested parties. You have 120 days from the date you were served a notification by the trustee and a copy of the trust to bring a trust contest.
That said, if a copy of the trust is not included along with the notification by trustee and you request a copy of the trust instrument from the trustee within this 120-day time frame for contesting a trust, you would have 60 additional days from the date you are delivered a copy of the trust to bring your contest.
It’s important to remember that the California trust contest statute of limitations isn’t usually flexible; therefore, if you plan to contest a trust, it’s essential you get your ducks in a row early.
A lawyer can serve as an excellent resource during the trust contest process, regardless of whether you need guidance about the pros and cons of pursuing a trust contest or you need assistance with your actual case.
Ideally, you would consult with a lawyer immediately after you’ve received the trust notice to ensure your lawyer has ample time to draft and file your trust contest petition before the time limit to contest a trust elapses. However, consulting with a lawyer this early in the process isn’t a requirement.
2. A Trustee’s Failure to Provide Proper Notice to Interested Parties Could Result in an Extension of the Trust Contest Statute of Limitations
If you are a trustee, you must be extra-careful to not only serve timely notices to all interested parties, but to follow established rules and procedures when doing so. As a reminder, the requirements for trustee notices can be found in California Probate Code section 16061.7.
A failure to serve proper trust notices to all the parties that are entitled to them within 60 days of the settlor’s death could result in the trust contest statute of limitations being extended for the parties impacted by your oversight. This not only could prolong the trust’s administration, but it could lead to you being held personally liable for your failure to comply with your duties, which may be regarded as fiduciary misconduct.
In some instances, a trustee’s failure to provide timely trust notices to interested parties could lead to the parties seeking court intervention. The court could compel the trustee to serve the required notices, while also ordering them to pay penalties. The court could call for trustee removal as well.
As a trustee, it’s essential you recognize the importance of serving timely trust notices to interested parties. Without these notices, the parties may remain unaware of the settlor’s passing and their potential inheritance from the trust. Without this information, it would be impossible for them to enforce their rights.
3. An Interested Party’s Failure to Abide by the Trust Contest Statute of Limitations Could Result in Their Contest Being Barred
If you’re a beneficiary, it cannot be stressed enough how important it is to bring your trust contest within the allotted 120-day time frame to contest a trust in California. Ideally, you would bring your trust contest in advance of this deadline to ensure any issues that arise can be effectively handled.
A failure to abide by the time limit to contest a trust could cause your trust contest to be permanently barred. Once this happens, there is little you or your lawyer could do in the way of having the trust at issue invalidated.
If you are postponing bringing a trust contest because you are not yet sure whether you wish to contest the trust, it would be best for you to have a frank discussion with a knowledgeable lawyer about your reservations.
Your lawyer may express to you that your reservations are justified, and that it wouldn’t be worth your time or money to contest the trust. Conversely, your lawyer may express to you that you have a solid case that is worth pursuing.
If it’s the latter, you can proceed with initiating a trust contest and do so with confidence. What’s more, you won’t have missed the deadline for contesting a trust.
4. Contesting a Trust After Distribution May Be Possible Under Rare Circumstances
Under rare circumstances, it might be possible to contest a trust after distribution. For example, if you don’t discover the grounds for contesting a trust until after distribution because information had intentionally been hidden from you, it may still be possible to contest the validity of the disputed trust instrument. That being said, in order to recover money or property years after distribution, it may be necessary to sue the individual beneficiaries who received property from the trust, and sue the trustee, personally. If years have elapsed, the beneficiaries may have spent their inheritances, making recovery more difficult.
This is not to say you shouldn’t reach out to a lawyer if you wish to contest a trust after distribution, as doing so may be possible. Just make sure your lawyer is experienced in litigating trust contests since a case like this could be complicated.
5. Trust Contests Can Span Months or Even Years
A question many of our clients ask is: how long does it take to contest a trust?
For many, the time it takes to litigate a trust contest is a concern. Perhaps they were counting on an inheritance to pay off debts. Perhaps they were counting on an inheritance to put their kids through college. Perhaps they were counting on an inheritance to finance their wedding.
Unfortunately, there is no way to definitively say how long a trust contest will take until litigation is well underway. Even then, making such a determination could prove challenging due to the wide range of factors that can influence the length of a trust contest.
Straightforward trust contests could be resolved in the span of a few months, but complex trust contests could last years.
A trust contest that’s settled late in the process or goes to trial also could lengthen the trust contest process.
For these reasons, it’s impossible to provide an accurate estimate about how quickly a trust contest can be resolved.
If you have concerns about the length of a trust contest because you need access to your inheritance as soon as possible, then you may have to forgo contesting the trust. However, before going this route, you should discuss your concerns with a lawyer to see if there is a way around them.
For example, if you are seeking to contest a trust amendment that solely deals with the settlor’s home, the trustee may be able to proceed with making distributions of other trust assets while your contest is pending, enabling you to potentially access a portion of your inheritance early.
How long do you have to contest a trust? Learn more about the time limit to contest a trust in California from our legal team.
The California trust contest statute of limitations is not a deadline you can afford to miss if you plan to contest a trust. It may seem simple to stay on top of this deadline, but between grieving your loss and fulfilling your family and work obligations, it’s a deadline that can be easily overlooked.
Luckily, by having a Keystone probate lawyer in your corner, you can rest easy knowing that your trust contest will be filed properly and on time.
We are standing by to answer any questions you may have about the statute of limitations to contest a trust in California. Reach out to us today to request a free consultation.
