Trust administration for successor trustees
If your parent or spouse had a living trust, the trust usually avoids probate. It does not avoid work. As successor trustee you take on legal duties to the beneficiaries, and California law sets deadlines you have to meet.
The first 60 days
- Secure the assets. Collect statements, keep insurance in force on the house and cars, and change the locks on a vacant property.
- Get a tax ID for the trust. Once the trust becomes irrevocable it is a separate taxpayer.
- Send the trustee's notice. Probate Code section 16061.7 requires notice to beneficiaries and heirs within 60 days after the trust becomes irrevocable. The notice starts the 120-day period to contest the trust.
- Find the debts. Mortgage, credit cards, final medical bills, and final income taxes.
Real estate and property taxes
Most South County trusts hold a home. A Change in Ownership Statement (Death of Real Property Owner) generally has to be filed with the County Assessor within 150 days of death. Proposition 19 narrowed the parent-to-child property tax exclusion, so whether the home is reassessed depends on whether a child moves in and on the home's value. That one decision often drives whether the family keeps or sells the house.
Valuation and taxes
Assets in the trust usually receive a new income tax basis equal to their value at death. Getting date-of-death appraisals early protects beneficiaries when assets are sold later. The trustee also files the decedent's final income tax returns and, where required, trust income tax returns.
Accounting and distribution
Trustees must keep beneficiaries reasonably informed and account for what came in and what went out. When debts and taxes are paid, the trustee distributes assets under the trust's terms, usually in exchange for signed receipts and releases.
Typical timeline
A simple trust administration usually takes 6 to 12 months. Selling a house, a disagreement among beneficiaries, or an estate tax return can add time.
How we help
We prepare and serve the required notices, coordinate appraisals, handle the Assessor filings, advise on selling or keeping the home, prepare the accounting, and document the final distribution. Trust administration is quoted in writing up front.