El texto completo de esta guía está en inglés; el resumen anterior está en su idioma. Los resúmenes de las leyes y el inglés siguen siendo la fuente de referencia.
Core duties · 7 min de lectura
Keeping the beneficiaries reasonably informed
The baseline is §16060: the trustee has a duty to keep the beneficiaries of the trust reasonably informed of the trust and its administration. It is a continuing duty, not a single event, and it is the one most often measured after the fact by what the trustee's records show was sent.
On top of the baseline sit requests. On a beneficiary's reasonable request, the trustee reports the requested information relating to the administration that is relevant to the beneficiary's interest (§16061); on request, the trustee provides the terms of the trust (§16060.7); and a true and complete copy of the terms of an irrevocable trust goes to a beneficiary who asks — and, after a settlor's death, to an heir who asks (§16061.5). A settlor's waiver of these rights is void (§16068).
The dated notice: the notification by trustee
When a settlor's death makes the trust irrevocable, or the trustee of an irrevocable trust changes, §16061.7 provides for a notification by trustee within 60 days. After a death it goes to each beneficiary and each heir of the deceased settlor and carries a boldface warning, quoted in the statute, about the time to contest; on a change of trustee it goes to the beneficiaries without that warning.
The notification is served, not filed, by a §1215 method to the last known address. Its contents are fixed by subdivision (g), and a person the trustee cannot locate after reasonable diligence, or does not know of, need not be served (§16061.7(d)).
The annual account and what it must show
California's account is periodic: §16062 provides that the trustee accounts at least annually, at the termination of the trust and on a change of trustee, to each beneficiary to whom income or principal is required or authorized in the trustee's discretion to be currently distributed. Instruments executed before July 1, 1987 are excepted as the section states.
§16063 lists the contents: receipts and disbursements of principal and income, the assets and liabilities, the trustee's compensation, the agents hired with their relationship to the trustee and their compensation, a statement that the recipient may petition the court under §17200 for a review of the account and the trustee's acts, and a statement of the three-year limit on claims for breach of trust.
When a request goes unanswered, and what can be waived
The Trust Law gives beneficiaries a route to the court. Where a trustee has not provided requested information, or a requested account, within 60 days after a reasonable written request, and nothing was provided in the six months before, the beneficiary may petition to compel it; a copy of the terms may be compelled by petition as well (§17200(b)(7)).
Waivers have limits. An instrument may waive the account, and a beneficiary may waive it in writing, but the court may still compel an account on a showing that a material breach is reasonably likely (§16064); while a trust may be revoked, no account, terms or information is owed to its beneficiaries (§16069).
Las leyes, textualmente
Duty to keep beneficiaries reasonably informed
Prob. Code §16060 ↗Explicación clara y sencilla; el texto literal del estatuto aún no está atestiguado en nuestra biblioteca. Consulte el estatuto oficial en el enlace de arriba.
Requested information about the administration
Prob. Code §16061 ↗Explicación clara y sencilla; el texto literal del estatuto aún no está atestiguado en nuestra biblioteca. Consulte el estatuto oficial en el enlace de arriba.
Notification by trustee
Prob. Code §16061.7 ↗Explicación clara y sencilla; el texto literal del estatuto aún no está atestiguado en nuestra biblioteca. Consulte el estatuto oficial en el enlace de arriba.
Duty to account
Prob. Code §16062 ↗Explicación clara y sencilla; el texto literal del estatuto aún no está atestiguado en nuestra biblioteca. Consulte el estatuto oficial en el enlace de arriba.
Contents of an account
Prob. Code §16063 ↗Explicación clara y sencilla; el texto literal del estatuto aún no está atestiguado en nuestra biblioteca. Consulte el estatuto oficial en el enlace de arriba.
Preguntas frecuentes
How often must a California trustee account?
At least annually, at the termination of the trust and on a change of trustee, to the beneficiaries to whom income or principal is currently distributable (§16062), with the contents §16063 lists.
Can a beneficiary get a copy of the trust in California?
Yes: on request, a beneficiary receives the terms (§16060.7), and a true and complete copy of the terms of an irrevocable trust goes to a beneficiary — and, after a settlor's death, an heir — who asks (§16061.5). A settlor's waiver of these rights is void (§16068).
What happens if a trustee ignores a request?
Where requested information or a requested account is not provided within 60 days after a reasonable written request, and none was provided in the six months before, the beneficiary may petition the court to compel it (§17200(b)(7)).
Lecturas relacionadas
El Centro de Aprendizaje es información general sobre la ley de California — no es asesoría legal ni sustituye el consejo de un abogado de California con licencia sobre sus hechos específicos. TrusteeClear es software, no un bufete.