After your loved one passes away, you may be in charge of administering their trust. Many responsibilities come with this role. One such duty involves sending appropriate notices to interested parties. The parties who may be interested in an estate include beneficiaries, heirs, and creditors of the trust’s settlor. The settlor is the person who created the trust. A Notice of a Trust Administration must be given to all interested parties, but giving this notice to creditors allows the trustee to implement a claims procedure that may benefit the trust.
Providing Notice of a Trust Administration to Creditors
Under California law, the trustee must send a notice of trust administration to the beneficiaries of the trust. These are the individuals named in the trust to receive the trust’s assets. The notice must also be sent to the heirs at law of the settlor of the trust. These individuals would have inherited the decedent’s assets if he had died without a will. A trustee is not required, but may wish to consider, sending notice to creditors of the trust as well. Following is a general overview of this process:
- There is generally no legal requirement that a trustee provide notice of a trust administration to the creditors of the settlor.
- This is true regardless of the fact that the trust assets may be liable for the settlor’s debts.
- Giving notice to creditors can be useful to guard against unknown or contested claims against the settlor’s estate, because the creditors will only have 120 days to file a claim before it is barred.
- Providing notice to creditors may be handled differently than providing notice to beneficiaries of the trust. The trustee or personal representative may file a probate proceeding for the estate and publish notice of that proceeding in the local newspaper. Thereafter, the trust’s assets will be protected from the claims of unknown creditors.
Our office of experienced attorneys can help you determine the appropriate parties to receive notice of a trust administration. We encourage you to view our client testimonials page today to learn more about how we can help.