California Trust Administration: The Complete Guide for Successor Trustees

Your mom died. She had a living trust, and she named you as successor trustee. You have the trust binder, a stack of mail, a house full of furniture, and two siblings asking when they get their share. Now what?

Your job is to administer the trust.

Trust administration means taking over the trust, finding and protecting the assets, paying the bills and taxes, accounting to the beneficiaries, and distributing what is left the way the trust says. In California, a properly funded living trust usually can be administered without going to court. In a straightforward administration, the main distribution might go out in four to six months, with a reserve paid out later. If there is a house that takes a while to sell, tax problems, or a family dispute, it will take longer.

This guide walks through the whole process in order. Each step tells you what you need to know and links to a full article on each step.

Trust Administration Is Not Probate

Most Californians create a living trust to keep their family out of probate court. If the assets were titled in the trust, the successor trustee steps in and does the job privately. No judge. No court hearings. No statutory fees.

A California probate often takes a year or more, and the attorney and executor fees are set by statute and calculated on the gross value of the estate. A trust administration usually takes a fraction of the time and the cost.

But no court does not mean no rules. The California Probate Code still controls what the trustee must do, who gets notified, and what the beneficiaries are entitled to see. Nobody is looking over your shoulder approving each step. That is why you need to get it right.

Your Job as Successor Trustee

As successor trustee, you are now in charge of someone else’s assets for the benefit of other people. That makes you a fiduciary. You owe the beneficiaries a fiduciary duty: loyalty, care, impartiality, timely communication, and honest information. You cannot favor yourself. You cannot favor one sibling over another. You cannot mix trust money with your own. And you cannot sit on your hands.

Most trustees are family members who have never done this before. That is normal, and the law does not expect you to be a professional. But it does expect you to be careful, honest, and organized, and it can hold you personally responsible if you are not. We explain this in Can a California Successor Trustee Be Personally Liable?

If you are a beneficiary rather than the trustee, read this guide anyway. It tells you what the trustee should be doing and roughly when. Then read What Are a Beneficiary’s Rights in a California Trust Administration?

The Timeline at a Glance

Here is how a straightforward trust administration might unfold. Every trust is different. A house that takes a while to sell, tax complications, or a family disagreement can change the timetable.

None of these are distribution deadlines. California does not give a trustee a fixed number of days to distribute the trust. But it does require the trustee to keep things moving. We discuss this in How Long Does a Trustee Have to Distribute Assets in California?

These timelines are estimates. Some administrations go faster. Others take considerably longer.

Step 1: The First 30 Days

Slow down. Nothing needs to be distributed in the first month, and the worst mistakes we see come from a grieving trustee trying to wrap everything up fast. What does need to happen:

Order certified death certificates. You will need more than you think. Every bank, brokerage firm, and title company wants one.

Secure the property. Lock the house, forward the mail, keep the insurance, utilities, and mortgage paid, and make sure nobody walks off with the car or the jewelry.

Find the documents. The trust, every amendment, the pour-over will, and the most recent account statements.

Lodge the original will. Even with a trust, the person holding the original will must deliver it to the superior court clerk within 30 days after learning of the death (Probate Code §8200).

Get a tax ID number for the trust, if needed. After the creator of a typical single-person living trust dies, the trust usually needs its own tax ID number.  Your attorney can tell you what the bank will need.

Notify Medi-Cal. If the decedent received Medi-Cal, or was the surviving spouse of someone who did, a notice to the California Department of Health Care Services may be required within 90 days of death (Probate Code §§19202 and 215). The department generally has four months after proper notice to make a claim. We send the notice in every trust administration, even when nobody is known to have received Medi-Cal. It is easier to deal with it now than find out about a claim later.

For the full walkthrough, including what can wait, see The First 30 Days as a California Successor Trustee.

Step 2: Send the Trust Notice

This is mandatory. Within 60 days of the date of death, the trustee must mail the Probate Code §16061.7 notice to the beneficiaries and the decedent’s legal heirs. Heirs get the notice even if the trust leaves them nothing.

The notice tells them the trust exists, who the trustee is, and how to request a copy. It also starts the clock. A person who receives the notice generally has 120 days to contest the trust. If someone receives a copy of the trust during that 120-day period, the deadline becomes the later of the 120 days or 60 days after the copy was delivered.

Your attorney will need information from you to prepare and mail the notice.  We've written about what is needed to send the trust notice.

Step 3: Open the Trust Bank Account

Trust money goes into trust accounts. Not your account. Not Mom’s old checking account. In most administrations, you open a new bank account in your name as trustee, using the trust’s tax ID. See How to Open a Trust Bank Account in California After Death. Keep the money separate and keep good records of spending and deposits. Never mix trust money with your own, even for a day. It is the fastest way for an honest trustee to look dishonest.

Step 4: Find, Protect, and Value Everything

You need to know what the decedent owned, how each asset was titled, and what it was worth on the date of death. Our trust inventory article walks you through it.

Date-of-death values are important for two reasons. They are the starting numbers for the trust accounting. And many inherited assets receive a new tax basis at death. That is why selling a house soon after death often results in little or no capital gains tax. 

Pay close attention to how the assets are titled, because not everything passes under the trust:

Assets titled in the trust are administered by the trustee.

Retirement accounts and life insurance usually pass directly to the named beneficiaries, outside the trust, unless the trust is the named beneficiary.

Assets left in the decedent’s individual name may need probate or another transfer procedure. For deaths on or after April 1, 2025, the small-estate affidavit procedure for qualifying personal property generally has a $208,850 limit. Real estate has different rules. In some cases, a Heggstad petition can establish that an asset belongs in the trust if the documents show that was the decedent’s intention.

Step 5: Decide What to Do With the House

For most California families, the house is the biggest asset and the slowest to resolve. The beneficiaries can sell it, keep it, rent it out, or have one sibling buy out the others. Each choice has different income tax, property tax, and family consequences. Until it is resolved, the trustee keeps the house insured, maintained, and current on the mortgage and property taxes. We work through every option in What to Do With the Family Home in a California Trust Administration.

Step 6: Divide the Personal Property

The furniture, the jewelry, the tools, the photo albums. Often, it’s less about the monetary value and more about the sentimental value. More family fights start in the garage than over the brokerage account.

Start with what the trust says, then use a fair process for everything else. See Distributing and Disposing of Personal Property During a California Trust Administration, and if the siblings cannot agree, What Happens When Beneficiaries Disagree Over Personal Property?

Step 7: Pay the Bills and Handle the Taxes

Before the beneficiaries get paid, the trust pays what it owes: final medical bills, credit cards, utilities, and administration costs.

Then there are the tax returns. Depending on the estate, the trustee may be responsible for up to three sets of returns: the decedent’s final personal income tax returns, income tax returns for the trust covering income earned after the death, and, for larger estates or to preserve a surviving spouse’s unused exemption, a federal estate tax return. Most trustees hire a CPA for this. We cover who files what, and when, in Taxes During a California Trust Administration.

Step 8: Keep the Beneficiaries Informed and Prepare the Accounting

A trustee has to keep the beneficiaries reasonably informed. In our experience, most trust fights start because nobody knows what is going on. An email telling everyone that the house is listed, the brokerage account is being transferred, or the accountant is working on the tax returns can avoid a lot of problems.

Think about what the beneficiaries want to know. What is in the trust? What are you doing with the house? When will we get our share? You do not have to answer the same question every day. But if something changes or takes longer than expected, tell them.

Before the main distribution, we prepare an accounting. It shows what the trust owned at death, what came in, what was spent, what remains, and what each beneficiary will receive. California has rules about when an accounting is required and when it may be waived. In our administrations, we want beneficiaries to see where the money went before they sign off. See How to Prepare a California Trust Accounting.

Step 9: Make the Distributions and Close the Trust

In most administrations, we make distributions in two stages. Once the contest period has passed (or the beneficiaries have waived it), the assets have been gathered, bills and taxes have been paid or provided for, and the accounting is ready, the trustee can make the main distribution. We hold back a reserve amount to pay the final taxes, any remaining expenses, and unexpected bills.

Sometimes it makes sense to distribute part of the trust early, for example when everything has been liquidated except a house that is slow to sell. See Can a Trustee Make Partial Distributions?

On the other side, a beneficiary cannot demand money on his own schedule, but he can push back when a trustee stalls without a reason. See Can a Beneficiary Force a Trustee to Make a Distribution?

We ordinarily ask beneficiaries to review the accounting and sign an agreement and release when distributions are made. When the final bills and tax returns are finished, the trustee distributes the balance of the reserve, and closes the accounts. See Final Distributions: How to Close a California Trust Administration.

When a Spouse Dies First

Everything above assumes the last spouse has died, or there was no spouse. When the first spouse dies with a joint trust, the trust usually continues for the surviving spouse, and the job looks different. The survivor may need to divide the trust into separate shares, value the deceased spouse’s half, and make choices with real tax consequences. The surviving spouse may also need to update her pour-over will, durable power of attorney, advance health care directive, and HIPAA authorization. See Joint Trust Administration After a Spouse Dies in California.

When Things Go Wrong

Most trust administrations are uneventful. The ones that are not usually go wrong in a handful of ways: a difficult or un uncooperative sibling, a trustee who will not communicate or distribute, a claim that Mom signed the trust under someone’s influence, or assets that were never put in the trust.

When the family cannot work it out, either side can ask the probate court to step in. The court can instruct the trustee, order an accounting, or in serious cases remove the trustee. That is the expensive, public process the trust was supposed to avoid. The best protection is the boring one: follow the steps, document every decision, and keep the beneficiaries informed.

Do You Need an Attorney?

You do not have to hire an attorney to administer a California trust. But there are notices to send, deadlines to meet, deeds and accounts to deal with, and taxes to consider. The trustee is responsible for getting those things done. The trustee’s attorney's job is to keep the trustee out of trouble by making sure he is following the law and the terms of the trust. The attorney fees incurred in administering the trust are generally paid from the trust, not by the trustee personally.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to go to court?

Usually not. A properly funded trust is administered without a court. You end up in court only if significant assets were left outside the trust, or if someone files a petition over a dispute.

Can I say no to being the trustee?

Yes. Nobody is required to take the job. If you decline before accepting, the next successor named in the trust can step in. But once you accept, you must go through the steps to formally resign. You cannot just walk away (Probate Code §15640). You must follow the steps outlined in the trust and the Probate Code.

What happens if the trustee makes a mistake?

Not every mistake makes a trustee personally liable. But if you mishandle trust money, ignore your duties, or cause the trust a loss, you may have to make it right. Keep good records, ask questions when you are unsure, and get advice before making a decision you cannot undo.

Does the trustee get paid?

What does the trust say? It may say how much the trustee gets paid. If it does not, California generally allows reasonable compensation (Probate Code §15681). We typically recommend trustees accept a fee if the trust allows it. Administering a trust is a lot of work.

I live out of state. Can I still serve?

Yes. Most of the work is paperwork, phone calls, and email, and it can be done from anywhere. You may need local help with the house, like a realtor or a property manager, but distance is not a reason to decline the job.

Get Help With Your Trust Administration

If you have been named successor trustee, we can help you. Contact us for a free, 15-minute initial call with one of our attorneys.