Title to a residential property located in Los Angeles County, CA is held in a Family Trust, both Trustees have past away and nothing was filed/recorded to appoint the Successor Trustees at the time of either of the Trustees passing.  No deeds have been filed since the original ownership deed in 1989, legal title to the property is still in the name of the Trust.  The property has no mortgage.

It was the understanding of the heirs of the first trustee that upon the death of the surviving trustee the trust would be settled and property distributed to the remaining heirs of both trustees.

The initial Trustee past away in 1992 and the surviving Trustee past away in 2006, there was no notification made of the death of the surviving trustee to the heirs of the initial trustee.  The heirs of the initial trustee do not have a copy of the Trust Agreement, nor do they have any access to the property.  Attempts have been made to contact the heir of the last surviving trustee without success.

Property taxes on the residence are now in default according to the LA County Assessors web site.  Any suggestions on what the heirs of the initial trustee do to protect the property when they have no proof of the trust or anything to document their rights to the property? 

If the heirs of the first trustee cannot produce proof of the trust could the property be considered community property at the time of death of the first trustee and then become the property of only the surviving trustees heirs upon death?

Dear SD_444_HOME:

Welcome to the Real Estate Legal Issues forum, and thank you for the question.

My initial question is: who is the Successor Trustee? This is the person who is supposed to deal with executing the provisions of the Trust after the initial Trustees (the people who set up the Trust) die. Often, the Successor Trustee is another family member, but it could be a lawyer, accountant, trusted family friend, and so on.

If the Successor Trustee is not available or won't act, then most Trusts provide for a family member to ask a Court to appoint another person to act as Successor Trustee.

The next issue is getting the original Trust instrument. Many attorneys hold on to their clients' original estate planning documents, so tracking down the firm who prepared the Trust may be required. In addition, matters may become more complicated if the lawyer retired or the firm no longer exists.

Regarding the property tax issue, if someone does not pay the taxes, then everyone who stands to inherit will suffer, because the tax man will not wait while the family sorts things out.

I cannot comment on the Community Property portion of your question - there are too many facts missing. Also, if the married couple who passed away set up a Trust, then the decent thing to do is to work like mad to get the Trust instrument, get a competent Successor Trustee in place, and honor the terms of the Trust. That's what anyone would want done if they went through the trouble of establishing an Estate Plan. 

Mr. Buckingham,

 Thank you for your prompt response. 

Based on a verbal conversation with my father before he passed away in 1992, his successor trustee was to be my eldest brother and our step-mother's successor trustee was to be her daughter.  Since our family knew that our father's intent within the trust was to have our step-mother taken care of until her death, nothing was done.  Hindsight being 20/20 the uncomfortable discussion of the financial matters should have occurred immediately following our father's passing and a copy of the trust document obtained from the surviving trustee at that time.

For my family's side we have none of the trust documents, and no records of the attorney or law firm that prepared the trust in 1986 at approximately the time of their marriage.  Since we are unable to contact my step-mother's heir, who we fully believe would have copies of all of the legal documents because she had full access to the residence while her mother was alive, we seem to be stuck.

Without the Trust Instrument is it possible to have the court appoint a family member as the successor trustee, especially since the property is in tax default, and we have had no response from my step-mother's daughter even though letters have been delivered via certified mail?  If a successor trustee were to be court appointed how would the trust be settled if we cannot locate the document.  Our obvious thought is everything is split 50/50 between both his and her sides of the family.

I totally agree with you that with the Trust being established the wishes of the Trustees should be honored.  The problem is that we only have verbal conversations of what those desires were since we don't have the Trust Agreement.

Dear SD_444_HOME:

At this point, I recommend that you and your relatives consider hiring a lawyer because of the immediate risk posed by the tax default, and also to get your stepmother's child/children to come to the table and execute the Trust provisions.

Without getting too specific as to your particular situation, we can presume that a Trust exists because of the 1989 deed. We can also presume that, if there is no recorded document which evidences a revocation of the Trust, then the property should be a Trust asset.

If these facts are true, then the Trust has a person or persons named as Successor Trustee(s) who owe all the beneficiaries of the Trust certain legal obligations, including fairness and honest disclosure. Unfortunately, sometimes the only way to ensure that the successor lives up to these obligations is to have your own representation as a beneficiary. Based on your prior posts, you may have to use this method to proceed.