Q: My mother and father had a trust. My mom died and 7 years later my dad remarried. His new wife and he drew up a trust.
He died about 10 years after and I was told (while he was alive) that in their trust he specified that I receive $350,000. I believe my two children are also named for $175,000 each. He has been gone about 2 years now and his wife will NOT talk about the trust. I do not have a copy of the trust and she will not give me a copy. What can I do? Do I have to wait until she dies and, hopefully, her son (trustee) will distribute it? I am an only child.
A: I see you are in Glendale, AZ, but am assuming your father had resided in California. I'm answering your question based on California law. You have an absolute right to see a copy of the trust, even if somehow you were disinherited from it. An attorney would send a demand letter and if she still fails to provide you with a copy of the trust, an attorney would file a petition with the court who would absolutely grant it. If the court found your stepmom was unreasonable, which likely a court would, she could be forced to pay your attorney fees.
Gerald Barry Dorfman , James Edward Berge , Jeffrey Louis Gaffney , Yelena Gurevich and Nina Whitehurst agree with this answer
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