(a) A trustee who fails to serve the notification by trustee as required by Section 16061.7 on a beneficiary shall be responsible for all damages, attorney’s fees, and costs caused by the failure unless the trustee makes a reasonably diligent effort to comply with that section.

(b) A trustee who fails to serve the notification by trustee as required by Section 16061.7 on an heir who is not a beneficiary and whose identity is known to the trustee shall be responsible for all damages caused to the heir by the failure unless the trustee shows that the trustee made a reasonably diligent effort to comply with that section. For purposes of this subdivision, “reasonably diligent effort” means that the trustee has delivered notice pursuant to Section 1215 to the heir at the heir’s last address actually known to the trustee.

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Terms Used In California Probate Code 16061.9

  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Beneficiary: means a person to whom a donative transfer of property is made or that person's successor in interest, and:

    California Probate Code 24

  • Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Heir: means any person, including the surviving spouse, who is entitled to take property of the decedent by intestate succession under this code. See California Probate Code 44
  • Trust: includes the following:

    California Probate Code 82

  • Trustee: includes an original, additional, or successor trustee, whether or not appointed or confirmed by a court. See California Probate Code 84
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.

(c) A trustee, in exercising discretion with respect to the timing and nature of distributions of trust assets, may consider the fact that the period in which a beneficiary or heir could bring an action to contest the trust has not expired.

(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 319, Sec. 89. (AB 976) Effective January 1, 2018.)