Your mother died in the spring. Your brother is the trustee. By late summer nobody has sent you the trust or a single statement, and every question gets “I’m handling it.”
California does not leave that to the trustee’s mood. The Probate Code requires written notice within 60 days after a trust becomes irrevocable and a yearly account after that, with the trust terms available on request. A trustee who stonewalls can be ordered to comply or removed, and the same statutes tell a new successor trustee what to send and when.
What does a California trustee have to send beneficiaries, and by when?
The baseline is Cal. Prob. Code § 16060: the trustee “has a duty to keep the beneficiaries of the trust reasonably informed of the trust and its administration.” Section 16060.7 adds the trust terms on request and section 16061 adds information “relevant to the beneficiary’s interest” on reasonable request. A settlor cannot waive either one (section 16068).
Under section 16061.7, when a settlor’s death makes a trust irrevocable, or an irrevocable trust changes trustees, the trustee must serve a “notification by trustee” on each beneficiary and, after a death, each heir, usually by mail under section 1215. It identifies the settlor, the trust date, the trustees and their contact details, and where the trust is administered, and offers a copy of the terms.
The deadline is 60 days after the event, but if the event created a vacancy, the 60 days start when the new trustee begins serving. A death notice must also warn in boldface of the contest deadline in section 16061.8: 120 days after service, or 60 days after the terms are delivered within that window, if later. A trustee who fails to serve owes the resulting fees and damages under section 16061.9.
Do discretionary and remainder beneficiaries get the same information?
On information, mostly yes. Probate Code § 24 treats anyone with “any present or future interest, vested or contingent” as a beneficiary, so a contingent grandchild still gets notice and information. The annual account under section 16062(a) is narrower, running to beneficiaries to whom income or principal “is required or authorized in the trustee’s discretion to be currently distributed.” That includes a discretionary current beneficiary, but usually not a remainder beneficiary behind a spouse’s life interest.
While a trust is revocable and someone who can revoke it is competent, section 15800(a) gives the beneficiary’s rights to that person, and section 16069 excuses reporting to anyone else. Under the incapacity rule reworked by AB 1079 (Stats. 2021, ch. 749), once the last person able to revoke is shown incompetent, the trustee has 60 days to send the instrument to the beneficiaries who would take at death, and owes them accounts.
Estate of Giraldin, 55 Cal.4th 1058 (2012), held that after the settlor dies, beneficiaries may sue for breach of the duty the trustee owed the settlor, to the extent it harmed them. Babbitt v. Superior Court, 246 Cal.App.4th 1135 (2016), barred an order making a widow account for the years before her husband died, because the couple were themselves the settlors and trustees.
What does a California trust account have to show, and how does a CPA test it?
Section 16063 requires receipts and disbursements of principal and income, ending assets and liabilities, the trustee’s compensation, and the agents hired with their pay and any relationship to the trustee. It must also flag the right to court review under section 17200 and the three-year bar on breach claims, which section 16460 starts only when the account discloses the problem. Even if the instrument waives accounts, section 16064 lets a court compel one when a material breach is reasonably likely.
An irrevocable trust generally files a federal Form 1041 and, once gross income passes $10,000 or net income passes $100, a California Form 541, with a Schedule K-1 to each beneficiary receiving a distribution or allocation. Returns and account come from the same books. Dividends on the 1041 exceeding income on the account mean something is missing, and a K-1 allocating income to you that never reached your bank raises the question of where it went.
I also match the fiduciary fee deduction to the account’s compensation line, then read the general ledger, where checks to the trustee’s own business surface long before they distort a total.
How does a trustee change happen correctly in California?
Section 15640 allows resignation only as the instrument provides, with consent of whoever can revoke, with consent of all adult current and termination beneficiaries once irrevocable, or by court order. Section 15641 keeps the resigning trustee liable for earlier acts.
Section 15643 defines vacancies. Section 15660 fills one from the instrument, then with a trust company those same beneficiaries all accept, then by the court. Removal for cause runs through section 15642. The departing trustee must deliver the property and stays responsible until delivery (section 15644), and section 16062(a) requires an account “upon a change of trustee.”
An incoming trustee’s first 90 days: serve the 16061.7 notice if triggered. Get a new EIN if a revocable trust just became irrevocable; a change of trustee alone does not need one. File Form 56 for each person you act for. Give banks a certification of trust under section 18100.5 instead of the instrument. Unfunded assets are a separate problem, covered in our post on Heggstad petitions.
What does the timeline look like for a Sacramento family?
Carol, a Land Park widow in Sacramento, dies March 12, 2026. Her revocable trust holds her house (about $780,000), a brokerage account (about $410,000), and $65,000 in savings, split equally between her son and her daughter in Roseville. The son accepts as successor trustee on March 23. All names, dates, and figures are illustrative.
Carol was her own trustee, so his 60 days ran from March 23 and the notice was due May 22, 2026. By August his sister has nothing, and on August 10 she sends a written request for the trust terms, asset information, and an account from March 12 forward.
If he mails the notice September 1 and delivers the terms November 20, her last day to contest is January 19, 2027, because 60 days from delivery beats 120 days from service (December 30, 2026). If nothing arrives by October 9, 2026, section 17200(b)(7) is satisfied: 60 days of silence, and nothing provided in the prior six months.
He administers the trust from his Sacramento home, so under section 17005 her section 17200 petition goes to Sacramento County Superior Court, where she can add section 16420 remedies such as reduced compensation or removal. If the account is later contested, section 17211 can shift fees against a bad faith contest or opposition.
Her letter aside, his first annual account comes due after the trust’s first fiscal year, on no fixed day. The account should start from March 12 values and show every dividend, check, and transfer, his fee, the realtor he hired, and closing balances. I would tie it to the brokerage 1099s and Carol’s final Form 1040, and in 2027 to the trust’s first 1041, Form 541, and her K-1.
What is a California beneficiary not entitled to see?
Beneficiaries get information, not a vote on when to list the house. Legal advice is protected: Wells Fargo Bank v. Superior Court, 22 Cal.4th 201 (2000), lets a trustee assert the attorney-client privilege against beneficiaries even for administration advice paid from trust funds, though the fees paid are still a disbursement.
Section 16061 reaches only information relevant to the requester’s interest, so a cousin need not see another branch’s separate share, and a competent living settlor’s affairs stay private. A confidentiality clause cannot justify withholding the terms.
| Duty | Trigger | Deadline | Who is entitled |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notice (§ 16061.7) | Death; new trustee of irrevocable trust | 60 days (from start of service after a vacancy) | Beneficiaries; heirs after a death |
| Trust terms (§§ 16060.7, 16061.5) | Request | On request | Beneficiaries; heirs after a death |
| Information (§ 16061) | Reasonable request | Petition after 60 days on a written request | Beneficiary, as relevant to that interest |
| Account (§§ 16062, 16063) | Yearly, termination, change of trustee | At least annually; petition 60 days after written request | Current and discretionary distributees |
| Incapacity notice (§ 15800(b)) | Last person able to revoke shown incompetent | 60 days | Beneficiaries who would take at death |
| Contest window (§ 16061.8) | Service of death notice | 120 days, or 60 days after terms delivered, if later | Each person served |
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a California trustee have to send notice after a death?
Sixty days. Probate Code section 16061.7 requires notice to every beneficiary and heir within 60 days after a death makes the trust irrevocable. If the settlor was also the trustee, the 60 days start when the successor begins serving. Missing it can cost the trustee damages and fees.
Can I see my parent’s trust while my parent is alive?
Usually not. While the trust is revocable and the person who can revoke it is competent, Probate Code sections 15800 and 16069 give the rights to that person, not the children. If that person is shown incompetent, the trustee has 60 days to send the trust to the beneficiaries who would take at death.
What if the trust says the trustee does not have to account?
A waiver in the instrument can excuse the annual account, but under Probate Code section 16064 a court can still order one when a material breach is reasonably likely, and the waiver is void for certain sole trustees, such as the drafter.
How long do I have to contest a California trust?
Under Probate Code section 16061.8, a person served with the trustee’s notice after a death has 120 days from service, or 60 days from delivery of the trust terms within that window, whichever is later. The period runs from service, not from the date of death.
Does a successor trustee need a new EIN?
It depends. The IRS requires a new EIN when a revocable trust becomes irrevocable, the usual case after a settlor dies. A change of trustee alone does not require one. The new trustee should also file Form 56 to notify the IRS of the fiduciary relationship.
Who pays the fees if I have to petition for an account?
Often each side pays its own. Probate Code section 17211 lets the court shift litigation costs when a contest of an account, or the trustee’s opposition to it, lacks reasonable cause and is in bad faith. A trustee who never served the required notice can owe resulting fees under section 16061.9.
How North Star Law Firm Can Help
North Star Law Firm represents beneficiaries and successor trustees in the Sacramento area and the Inland Empire in trust administration, from the 16061.7 notice and first account to a petition to compel one. We also draft revocable living trusts and prepare the trust and estate tax returns that must reconcile with the account. Phillip Zagotti is a California attorney licensed by the State Bar of California and a CPA, so one person does the law and the accounting.
If you are a beneficiary waiting on answers or a successor trustee who just took over, contact North Star Law Firm or schedule a consultation.