Prob. Code, § 16004.5 · Article 1. Trustee’s Duties in General
Prob. Code, § 16004.5
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) A trustee may not require a beneficiary to relieve the trustee of liability as a condition for making a distribution or payment to, or for the benefit of, the beneficiary, if the distribution or payment is required by the trust instrument.
(b) This section may not be construed as affecting the trustee’s right to:
(1) Maintain a reserve for reasonably anticipated expenses, including, but not limited to, taxes, debts, trustee and accounting fees, and costs and expenses of administration.
(2) Seek a voluntary release or discharge of a trustee’s liability from the beneficiary.
(3) Require indemnification against a claim by a person or entity, other than a beneficiary referred to in subdivision (a), which may reasonably arise as a result of the distribution.
(4) Withhold any portion of an otherwise required distribution that is reasonably in dispute.
(5) Seek court or beneficiary approval of an accounting of trust activities.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Added by Stats. 2003, Ch. 585, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2004.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB§ionNum=16004.5.
- Text hash
- sha256 eeafeeca5da4580eef62b14dd8d4ffd7f3c1843e69f7e721f3f21553b35af214
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.