To begin the legal proceedings, A trust contest lawsuit is filed in the California probate court, stating the basis for challenging the trust and the supporting evidence.

After the trust lawsuit has been filed, the lawyers at The Bassin Law Firm will move quickly to subpoena the three most important and relevant documents.

First, We will subpoena all the documents from the estate planning attorney who set up the trust.

 Second, we will subpoena the medical records of the person who established the trust. We look for medical issues such as dementia, Alzheimer’s or others that may have affected the person when the trust was created.

Third, we will also subpoena financial records of the trust that may show cash withdrawals by a bad actor. Who may be the individual who was exercising undue influence over a parent or elder.

These types of records can provide strong evidence to support your case to achieve a favorable result in a trust contest lawsuit. These documents are also used to support your claim if the case goes to trial. If a trust contest is successful, the court will invalidate the trust or set aside a trust amendment.

A court can also remove a trustee for breach of trust, for taking excessive payments or if the individual is unfit to act as trustee.