Best (and latest) Practices for Trust, Estate and Financial Elder Abuse Mediations

Congratulations to Margaret M. Hand, named to Best Lawyers in America for 2020. Ms. Hand was also recognized as Lawyer of the Year for achieving the highest overall peer feedback.

What questions should an attorney ask before hiring someone to prepare a client’s fiduciary accounting? What are the indicia of a poorly prepared accounting? Are waivers of account ever a good idea? Should the trust document routinely waive accountings?  Ever? Is there anything a trustee’s attorney can do to shorten the statute of limitations on breaches of trust disclosed in an accounting?

California law has long recognized a settlor’s right to restrict a beneficiary’s use of trust assets. Restraints on alienation, spendthrift clauses, shutdown clauses and wholly discretionary trusts are a few of the tools settlors may use when creating a trust for the benefit of someone likely to have creditor problems.