A story John hears every week
The “For Sale” sign went up before anyone called you.
Illustration. Not a real client.
Your sister is the trustee. That was always the plan; she lives closest. You assumed she’d call before anything happened to the house you all grew up in.
You found out from a neighbor’s text: a photo of the sign on the lawn. When you called, she said the market was good and the buyer was a friend from church who’d “take it as-is.” She wouldn’t say the price. She said the accounting would come “when it’s done.”
What usually decides a case like this
Whether the sale was fair, more than whether it was allowed. Many trusts let a trustee sell. What they don’t allow is a quiet sale at a friend’s price with the family kept in the dark. The questions are plain: what was the house worth, what did it sell for, who bought it, and was anyone told.
If the price was low or the buyer was close to the trustee, the trustee may be held responsible for the difference, even after escrow closes.
Questions families ask in this spot
Can she sell without asking us?
Sometimes, yes. Many trusts give the trustee power to sell. But a trustee has to get a fair price, treat the beneficiaries even-handedly, and keep them informed. A quiet sale to a friend raises fair questions.
She says the accounting comes “when it’s done.”
Beneficiaries don’t have to wait for the end. A California trustee generally has to account at least once a year and answer reasonable requests for information along the way.
Does it matter that the buyer is her friend from church?
It can. A sale to someone close to the trustee isn’t automatically wrong, but it raises the question of whether the family got full value, and the trustee should be ready to answer it.
What you can do
- Ask the trustee, in writing, for the listing, the offer, and the appraisal.
- Ask for an accounting. California trustees generally owe beneficiaries one.
- Don’t wait for escrow to close. A court can be asked to stop a sale that isn’t fair to the beneficiaries.
- Keep every text and email from the trustee.
- Call John while the sale can still be stopped.
More stories John hears
The caregiver
You were the one who stayed.
Six years of caregiving, and a new will signed the one week your brother visited.
The second wife
“Dad’s wife got everything. Her kids get it next.”
For years the plan included his children. In his last two years, it changed to everything to her.
The late change
The diagnosis and the signature, the same month.
Dad’s dementia was in his medical chart. So was the new trust amendment.