Being named trustee or executor is an honor and a burden, usually both at once, and usually during a difficult time. We guide trustees, executors, and beneficiaries through administration and probate with the precision the role demands and the discretion your family deserves.
When someone passes away or becomes incapacitated, their trust or estate typically requires administration: identifying assets, paying debts and taxes, and distributing what remains according to the plan. If there’s no trust, or assets fall outside one, the estate goes through probate, a court-supervised process that’s public, often slower, and more expensive. We help clients navigate both, with the goal of resolving the estate correctly and moving your family toward closure.
You’ve been named trustee. We walk you through your legal duties, help you avoid personal liability, and manage the administration process alongside you.
We represent executors and interested parties through the California probate process, from petition to final distribution.
When beneficiaries disagree about a trust’s terms or a trustee’s conduct, we help resolve it, ideally without litigation, but prepared to if it’s unavoidable.
Trust and probate administration involves real deadlines and real personal liability for the trustee or executor involved. We make sure nothing gets missed, from notices and tax filings to creditor claims and court requirements, while keeping you informed in plain language at every step.
Trust administration happens outside of court, under the terms of the trust itself. Probate is a court-supervised process required when assets aren’t held in a trust.
It can take as long as necessary, depending on the terms of the trust and the needs of the trustees and beneficiaries involved. That said, it’s typically much faster, more private, and less expensive than probate, and can be handled with far less stress.
Yes, trustees have fiduciary duties and can be held personally liable for mismanaging trust assets. Proper guidance from the outset significantly reduces that risk.
No. Estates with assets properly held in a funded trust, or below California’s small estate threshold, can often avoid probate entirely.
Beneficiaries have legal rights to information and can petition the court to compel an accounting or, in serious cases, remove a trustee. We represent beneficiaries in these situations.
