What You Need to Know About Petition to Invalidate Trust
A trust can be contested for many of the same reasons as a will, including lack of testamentary capacity, undue influence, or lack of requisite formalities. The beneficiaries may also challenge the trustee’s actions as violating the terms and purpose of the trust. Petition to invalidate trust California in most settlers will desire a no-contest clause in the trust that severs a beneficiary’s interest if he or she unsuccessfully challenges the trust.
As in the law of wills, the trust contestant must have a pecuniary interest in the trust or be someone who would have inherited under intestacy in order to have the standing to challenge the trust. While a will contest is brought in conjunction with the administration of the estate, a trust proceeding begins when a contester files a civil complaint or petition.
A contest petition requests that the challenged portion of the trust be stricken. Contest petitions are typically difficult to win because legislatures and courts tend to honor the settlor’s intent. The court will try its best to honor the settlor’s written instructions and presume they reflected his or her intentions.
The court operates under the assumption that often trust contests exist simply because a friend or family member is unhappy because he or she expected to inherit a more significant portion of the settlor’s estate.
Under the Uniform Trust Code (UTC), a trust is invalid if it has an unlawful purpose or a purpose that is contrary to public policy, such as imposing limits on religious freedom or the freedom to marry. Some states require that a trust cannot violate the rule against perpetuities, which dictates that a trust cannot last longer than 21 years plus the life of a person in being when the trust is created. If one of these conditions is invalid, only that condition is invalid, not the entire trust.
The test for determining whether the testator had sufficient mental capacity to create a valid trust is typically similar to that required to make a valid will. To have the capacity, the settlor must have been at least 18 years old and have had the ability to know the extent of his or her property and the natural objects of his or her bounty.
The “natural objects” include family members such as spouses, children, and siblings. Medical records are a good source of evidence for proving lack of mental capacity if they discuss the settlor’s mental capacity near the time the trust document was signed. While it is unlikely that a medical document will reflect the settlor’s mental capacity at the exact time the document was signed, such records can still be relevant if they were prepared near the time the document was signed. Valid trusts, like valid wills, are the product of the settlor’s free will and volition, This will help with the petition.
