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Trustees Don’t Live for Free

Estate Planning Oct 27, 2022 stefan

So a question I’m frequently asked by my clients who are suing to remove a trustee from the office of the trustee is, “Well, while the trustee is in office, can they live in a trust-owned real property for free, not pay rent, not pay utilities, not pay the cost of the upkeep of the property?” And again, the answer is very much dependent on what the trust says.

You know, if the trust says that the trustee is entitled to live in the property without paying rent, without paying utilities, without paying the cost of upkeep, then yes, they can do so. There’s nothing my client or any of the other trust beneficiaries can do about that fact. If the trust is silent, however, it’s not acceptable for the trustee to simply assume that they can live in the trust’s own-able property without paying rent or any of the other costs required to upkeep the home. In fact, their choosing to do so without authority is a breach of their fiduciary duties to the trust and to the other trust beneficiaries.

The probate code is very clear that trustees of trusts that own real property or any property for that matter, have a fiduciary duty to the trust and to the trust beneficiaries to make that property productive. So in the terms of property that can be rented out, that property needs to generate income, it needs to generate fair market rent. The person living in that property needs to pay for the utilities and needs to pay for the cost of upkeep. It is not appropriate to just assume that the trust will do so. And in fact, in many cases where trustees who are also trust beneficiaries decide to live in these trust properties for free are setting themselves up for a removal petition based exclusively on the fact that they are in breach of their fiduciary duties to the trust and to the trust beneficiaries.

stefan

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N.M LAW, APC | Probate Attorneys
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Corine Cojocaru
14:37 21 Feb 23
Vey helpful with good insight to take the proper steps with difficult situations and have my questions answered. Noelle and her team are professional and courteous and great to work with!
Silvana Sarkis
13:23 08 Jul 22
Samantha and the team are professional compassionate and get the job done. She articulates very well what needs to be done. Her and the firm do Probate and Trust at its finest to protect their clients. She is a valuable asset for me to source out to my clients as a strategic referral partner. Protecting family asset is essential and I recommend Samantha and her team for all your probate and trust needs.
Aleathea Rayburn
23:42 06 Jul 22
I was referred to NM Law after dealing with a myriad of problems in settling a complicated Trust in Riverside County. At the initial meeting, Noelle Minto and Samantha Smith listened to the mess I was in and answered the questions I had. They provided me with information regarding my duties as a Trustee, made me aware of important dates that were upcoming, important dates already missed, and devised a plan to settle the Trust while protecting me, personally. When I left the first meeting, I felt that I was in good hands.John Schroeder was brought on to work on my case with Samantha and they updated/collaborated with Noelle. Noelle, Samantha and John are all patient, direct and very personable. Their knowledge and professionalism are exceptional. NM Law was successful in achieving a Settlement Agreement under difficult circumstances amongst people with little trust in one another. Thankfully we did not have to bear the cost of going to trial, however, I have complete confidence that NM Law would have prevailed if we had.I highly recommend NM Law. I look forward to working with them again, but this time to plan my estate.
Colette
18:31 29 Jun 22
Love this firm. I’ve worked on a wide range of legal issues with NM law, and the attorneys here are top notch, reasonably priced, and a pleasure to work with. They truly care about each of their clients and they made me feel confident each step of the way. Truly professional. They resolved a range of issues with me through strong legal counsel and I will continue to work with them for years to come.
Abraham Torres
22:19 10 Jun 22
Ms. Minto,I want to thank you and your staff for the courtesy extended to us during our family's pending emergency deadline.Mr. O'Grady spoke to my brother and gave us his best recommendation regarding my father's estate.It is really hard to speak, and even harder to "plan" generational wealth with a parent in terms of assets, intentions, and mortality, but it is a necessary conversation to have, if only to lessen the unfairness of life that eventually catches up to all of us.Our family tried to bring justice to my father's death within this probate process and found no justice, this system must be changed, so that a fairness is inherit within this system and not just a scam—lots of hard lessons to be learned from a broken probate process.In either case, thank you again for giving our family the attention and direction we sought. The adage is true, not all lawyers are the same. Looking forward to working with your office in the near future, as we don't want to repeat this experience with our Mom.Gracias,Abraham
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Monique S.
06:21 08 Mar 23
NM Law is an excellent law firm to work with! Noelle and her team are very thorough and knowledgeable. They explained the estate planning process to us and kept us informed every step of the way.We highly recommend NM Law for your estate planning needs.
Robert Sousa
22:15 21 Feb 23
I have worked with many attorneys, and there are very few that I would ever recommend. Noelle and her team have gone above and beyond to help all of our clients that we have referred to her. There is no one else that I would recommend for estate planning in the area.
Sharon McCubbin
03:58 28 Jan 23
I was first referred to Noelle Minto by my family law attorney Mike Monarch to provide oversight on my husband’s Trust conforming with our Post Marital Agreement. Her outstanding legal insights helped me to feel secure that both documents were in alignment. These interactions caused me to hire Noelle Minto to create a restatement of my own trust (1999) to be more relevant and reflect my current financial portfolio. Her professional guidance was outstanding. Noelle was always available, friendly, insightful, and mindful of my needs. I would even say highly intuitive. She certainly expanded my knowledge of wealth distribution. I also valued the Law firm’s entire team. Edward was delightful to work with as well. I highly recommend Noelle Minto and her knowledgeable legal team for their exceptional legal services on Family and individual Trusts. I will be making referrals to my friends in the future.
Greg Bishop
04:11 21 Nov 22
Noelle and Samantha and their team are amazing. They are extremely knowledgeable and professional (they are the best). They have and continue to support me and my family while dealing with my parents Will and Trust. Samantha is very patience with all my questions.I highly recommend NM Law.
Stefan Lang
18:08 21 Jun 22
My wife and I went to Noelle to update our 36 year old family trust. Since our trust was so old she rewrote our trust and wills in their entirety. We have a large family with kids, daughters-in-laws, and 13 grandkids. So it was a complex task. She spent plenty of time with us making sure every detail was exactly the way we wanted, and had some good ideas that we liked. And her assistant, Tatiana, was very helpful. Noelle did an excellent job and we are very pleased and confident that we now have everything in proper order.

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