Most California residents do the best they can when choosing someone to rely on to protect their beneficiaries by properly managing and safeguarding assets meant for them. Unfortunately, not all trustees are worthy of such trust. Instead, they may breach their duties to the beneficiaries, and it may take trust litigation to make things right.
California and federal law both outline certain duties that a trustee owes to the beneficiary or beneficiaries of a trust. The trustee essentially answers to the beneficiaries, not the creator of the trust. Distributions may be made in accordance with the terms of the trust, but it is the beneficiaries who require protection and reassurances that the assets are in the right hands.
In some cases, the trustee simply does not understand those duties. An explanation and reparations could put the trustee on the right track in order to provide benefit to the beneficiaries. In other cases, the trustee intentionally or negligently fails to keep the best interests of the beneficiaries in mind when making decisions regarding the trust and its assets. Under these circumstances, the beneficiaries could sustain significant financial harm.
This may be a good time to seek out some help to determine what legal rights and options the beneficiaries have. Depending on the circumstances, it may be necessary to file trust litigation. Before that can happen, however, a thorough investigation into the activities of the trustee will be necessary in order to determine what happened and when. Knowing these details and gathering the appropriate evidence may help prove to the court that the trustee breached its fiduciary duties to the beneficiaries of the trust.
Source: investopedia.com, “Can You Trust Your Trustee?”, Accessed on Nov. 11, 2017