A story John hears every week
Your sister is the trustee. You haven’t seen a single statement.
Illustration. Not a real client.
Mom’s trust named your sister as trustee. It made sense at the time. She paid Mom’s bills the last few years and lived ten minutes away.
That was two years ago. Since then you’ve received a copy of the death certificate and one phone call. The rental house still has tenants, but you don’t know who’s collecting the rent. When you ask about the bank accounts, she says she’s “handling it” and that you’ll get your share “when everything’s done.” Last month you asked for a statement in writing. She hasn’t answered.
In California, a trustee generally has to keep the beneficiaries reasonably informed and account for the money: what came in, what went out, and what’s left. Silence isn’t one of the choices.
What usually decides a case like this
Whether the trustee is doing the job, not whether she’s a good sister. Two years of silence about a rental house and the bank accounts is the kind of gap a court can be asked to close.
Most families want the information before they want a fight. A formal written request, and a petition if it’s ignored, is often enough to put the statements on the table.
Questions families ask in this spot
Do I have to sue my sister?
Not necessarily. A formal letter is often enough to get a statement. If it isn’t, a petition asks the court to order one. That’s a request for information, not an accusation.
Will this cost the trust money?
It can, which is why the first step is usually a letter. And when a trustee’s refusal to account is what forced the court case, the court can in some cases make the trustee pay personally.
What if she sends a statement now?
Good. Read it closely: rent in, bills out, what’s left. If it doesn’t add up, the next questions get more specific.
What you can do
- Ask the trustee, in writing, for a copy of the trust and every amendment.
- Ask, in writing, for an accounting.
- Keep every request and every answer, or the lack of one.
- Don’t sign a release or a “receipt” for your share until you’ve seen the numbers.
- Call John. When a trustee won’t account, the court can be asked to order one.
More stories John hears
The unfinished trust
“There was a trust. The house just never made it in.”
Dad paid for a trust and kept the binder on the shelf. Nobody ever put the house in it.
The helper
“By the time she died, the accounts were already empty.”
A cousin helped with the bills, then held the power of attorney. After the funeral, the statements told the rest.
The changed form
“The will says equal. The insurance went to one person.”
The will split everything three ways. The life insurance and the IRA paid one son.