California Government Code 12598 – (a) The primary responsibility for supervising charitable trusts …
(a) The primary responsibility for supervising charitable trusts in California, for ensuring compliance with trusts and articles of incorporation, and for protection of assets held by charitable trusts and public benefit corporations, resides in the Attorney General. The Attorney General has broad powers under common law and California statutory law to carry out these charitable trust enforcement responsibilities. These powers include, but are not limited to, charitable trust enforcement actions under all of the following:
(1) This article.
Terms Used In California Government Code 12598
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- Charity: An agency, institution, or organization in existence and operating for the benefit of an indefinite number of persons and conducted for educational, religious, scientific, medical, or other beneficent purposes.
- Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
- Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
- Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
- Probate: Proving a will
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
(2) Title 8 (commencing with Section 2223) of Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code.
(3) Division 2 (commencing with Section 5000) of Title 1 of the Corporations Code.
(4) Sections 8111, 11703, 15004, 15409, 15680 to 15685, inclusive, 16060 to 16062, inclusive, 16064, and 17200 to 17210, inclusive, of the Probate Code.
(5) Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 17200) of Part 2 of Division 7 of the Business and Professions Code, and Sections 17500 and 17535 of the Business and Professions Code.
(6) Sections 319, 326.5, and 532d of the Penal Code.
(b) The Attorney General shall be entitled to recover from defendants named in a charitable trust enforcement action all reasonable attorney’s fees and actual costs incurred in conducting that action, including, but not limited to, the costs of auditors, consultants, and experts employed or retained to assist with the investigation, preparation, and presentation in court of the charitable trust enforcement action.
(c) Attorney’s fees and costs shall be recovered by the Attorney General pursuant to court order. When awarding attorney’s fees and costs, the court shall order that the attorney’s fees and costs be paid by the charitable organization and the individuals named as defendants in or otherwise subject to the action, in a manner that the court finds to be equitable and fair.
(d) Upon a finding by the court that a lawsuit filed by the Attorney General was frivolous or brought in bad faith, the court may award the defendant charity the costs of that action.
(e) (1) The Attorney General may refuse to register or may revoke or suspend the registration of a charitable corporation or trustee, commercial fundraiser, fundraising counsel, coventurer, charitable fundraising platform, or platform charity whenever the Attorney General finds that the charitable corporation or trustee, commercial fundraiser, fundraising counsel, coventurer, charitable fundraising platform, or platform charity has violated or is operating in violation of any provision of this article.
(2) All actions of the Attorney General shall be taken subject to the rights authorized pursuant to Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 11400) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2.
(f) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2023.
(Repealed (in Sec. 7) and added by Stats. 2021, Ch. 616, Sec. 8. (AB 488) Effective January 1, 2022. Operative January 1, 2023, by its own provisions.)