When someone dies, interested parties must be notified and provided with copies of their estate planning documents (if any exist). Without proper notification or copies of estate planning documents, it will be extremely difficult for interested parties to enforce their rights.
In the context of this article, the term interested party will vary depending upon the nature of the decedent’s estate planning documents, but generally refers to someone with a financial stake in the decedent’s estate or trust.
For decedent’s who died with a will subject to probate, all persons mentioned in the decedent’s will in any capacity (e.g., as beneficiary or as nominated executor) are entitled to notice of the opening of probate, as are all of the decedent’s heirs-at-law (i.e., those relatives who would be entitled to inherit property from the decedent under California’s laws of intestacy).
Similarly, if the decedent died with a trust, then the trustee is required to serve formal notification on all beneficiaries named in the trust, in addition to all of the decedent’s heirs-at-law. The formal notification must advise all interested parties that the trust has become irrevocable by virtue of the decedent’s death, advise all interested parties that they are entitled to receive a copy of the trust, and provide other information required by Probate Code section 16061.7.
When someone dies with a will or trust, it’s crucial that the executor or trustee notify beneficiaries (i.e., the persons who are named in their will or trust).
If the decedent had a will, its beneficiaries should be notified about the date and time of the initial probate proceeding in case they wish to object to the will’s admission into probate or the choice of executor. If the initial probate hearing has already happened, beneficiaries who have not received proper notice generally have the ability to try to contest the will to try to have it invalidated
There are strict deadlines for filing will contests to prevent probate from being unnecessarily prolonged; however, if an executor fails to timely notify beneficiaries, the deadline for filing a will contest could potentially be thrown out the window, leading to probate taking more of everyone’s time, and beneficiaries having to wait longer for their inheritances.
If the decedent had a trust, its beneficiaries still should be notified, but the notices will be slightly different, since the trust generally won’t be subject to any probate proceedings. Notices to beneficiaries of a trust in California usually are used to inform beneficiaries that trust administration has begun.
Unless a will or trust is successfully contested or there are not enough assets to pay the decedent’s debts, beneficiaries should receive the inheritances they were left in the operative estate planning documents.
But how will they know what their inheritances entail, or more broadly, what the terms of the will or trust are if they are not properly notified? How will they know who the executor or trustee is? This is why it’s important for executors and trustees to take their duty of providing notice to beneficiaries seriously.
