Assembly Bill 1194, approved by Governor Newsom on September 30, 2021, tightens oversight of California conservators, especially those licensed by the Professional Fiduciaries Bureau.
The bill expands the duties of California courts with respect to conservatorships, though some reforms depend upon funding in future legislation. With a projected budget surplus, and keen public
Zachary Young is a private professional fiduciary with CMY Fiduciary Services in Sacramento. His mother, Carolyn M. Young, began work as a fiduciary in 1986. Zach received his bachelor’s degree in business and communications at Sacramento State University. Zach joined his mother and sister, Lindsay Bowman, in the fiduciary business. In 2012, he received his
When a California probate court establishes a conservatorship, the conservator is charged with managing the conservatee’s person and/or estate in the conservatee’s best interests. The large majority of professional fiduciaries and family members who become conservators discharge their duties faithfully. Occasionally, however, a conservator may exploit the relationship for personal gain.
Over the past year
We started Trust on Trial with a post on undue influence in November 2015 and now mark the blog’s fifth anniversary. We thank readers of our “five cents” for their feedback, reflect on where we’ve been, and look towards the future.
Focused on California trust and estate litigation, and dispute avoidance, we have published 127
What is a reasonable trustee’s fee in California for a family member who acts as trustee? We see a high degree of conflict over this issue even when the amount of the claimed fee is small compared to value of the trust estate. Our blog analytics show that our post of a few years ago on the fee issue continues to draw a high number of hits. If you found this post in a Google search, you are probably grappling with a fee dispute in your family’s trust.
California Probate Code section 15681 generally permits a “reasonable” fee, but the term is hazy in practice. Most California Superior Courts do not have fee guidelines in their local rules. While California Rule of Court 7.776 lists factors a court may consider in reviewing trustee compensation, the trustee and the beneficiaries are likely to apply those factors differently. Accordingly, fee disputes are common in California trust litigation.
Here we’ll discuss best practices for a trustee with respect to claiming a fee. Let’s use the common situation where Mom and Dad have picked one of their several children to act as successor trustee when they die or become incapacitated. When Larry becomes the trustee, siblings Moe and Curley may be resentful and thus disinclined to go along with any fee.
California trust and estate disputes may be avoided or resolved with the appointment of a private professional fiduciary to act in an oversight role with respect to an elder’s care and/or finances. In a recent post, we suggested the use of professional fiduciaries or bank trust departments to resolve conflicts among family member co-trustees.
Here we’ll focus on professional fiduciaries as an option, drawing on our experience as trust and estate litigation attorneys. We usually represent family members in conflicts. Sometimes we represent professional fiduciaries.