# Beneficiary Rights Attorney in Hidden Hills > Trust owns an LLC that owns the house, and you cannot see through it? I represent Hidden Hills beneficiaries seeking real disclosure. Call 805-244-5291. Source: https://ridleylawoffices.com/beneficiary-rights-attorney-hidden-hills/ ## Beneficiary Rights Attorney in Hidden Hills At a glance - Hidden Hills is in Los Angeles County, so a trust petition goes to the Stanley Mosk Courthouse downtown, not to any Valley courthouse. - High-value trusts here often hold an LLC that holds the property, which puts a layer between you and the asset. - Cal. Prob. Code § 16061 reaches information relevant to your interest, and that includes the entity documents the trust controls. - § 16063 requires the account to show the trustee’s own compensation. Hidden Hills trusts rarely hold property directly. The structure is usually a trust that owns an LLC, and the LLC owns the residence, the ranch parcel or the investment property. It is sensible planning for privacy and liability, and it creates a specific problem for beneficiaries. You are a beneficiary of the trust. You are not a member of the LLC. When you ask what the property is doing, the answer that comes back is about the trust’s interest in an entity rather than about the house, and that is where most Hidden Hills beneficiary files stall. **No-cost 30-minute call, by phone or video.** Bring the trust and, if there is one, the LLC operating agreement. [Talk to Eric](https://app.lawmatics.com/forms/share/345a2f20-b321-4eed-8a15-db3c88789bd8) ## Seeing through the entity The trustee’s duties run to you regarding the trust’s assets, and the trust’s asset is the membership interest. So a trustee can produce an account that shows a single line item, the LLC interest, with a value he chose, and argue that everything below that line is the entity’s business rather than the trust’s. § 16061 is the answer. On reasonable request the trustee must report information about the administration relevant to your interest. Where the trust controls the LLC, the operating agreement, the K-1s, the entity’s bank statements and any management or leasing agreements are relevant to your interest, because they determine what the membership interest is worth. Ask for them by name. A general request invites the entity-level brush-off. § 16063 still applies at the trust level. The account has to show receipts, disbursements, assets on hand and the trustee’s compensation. If the LLC distributes cash to the trust, those distributions are receipts. If the trust pays the LLC’s expenses, those are disbursements. A structure does not make the accounting optional, it just makes a lazy account easier to defend. Watch for the trustee who is also the LLC manager. That is one person on both sides of every transaction between the two, and it is the arrangement most likely to produce a valuation nobody can check. ## Privacy cuts in your favor here Hidden Hills families choose trusts partly so that nothing becomes a public record, and that instinct is usually right. Probate is public. Trust administration is not. It is worth knowing that asking a trustee for an accounting does not change that. A written demand under § 16061 or § 16062 is private correspondence between you and the trustee. Nothing is filed and nothing is published. Beneficiaries here sometimes tolerate years of silence because they assume the alternative is a public fight, and for the great majority of these files it is not. A petition is different, because a petition is a public filing. That is a real consideration in a community this small, and it is an argument for making the written demand early and properly, while the private route is still the one that works. ## What has to happen before a court will order an accounting § 17200(b)(7)(C) sets two conditions together: the trustee failed to submit a requested account within 60 days after your written request, and no account was made in the six months preceding that request. § 17200(b)(7)(B) applies the same test to a request for information. § 17203 then requires at least 30 days’ notice of the hearing to all trustees and beneficiaries, and the court cannot shorten it. ## Where a Hidden Hills trust petition is heard Hidden Hills is in Los Angeles County, which runs its probate departments centrally at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, 111 N. Hill Street in downtown Los Angeles. There is no Valley probate court and no Northwest district for this, so proximity to Calabasas or Woodland Hills buys you nothing. It is a downtown filing. Venue is a separate question again. A petition concerning the internal affairs of a trust belongs where the trust is administered, not where the house is. Hidden Hills families frequently use an out-of-area corporate trustee, and that can move the correct court out of Los Angeles County altogether. ## Questions Hidden Hills beneficiaries ask **The trust owns an LLC and the LLC owns the house. What can I actually see?** More than the trustee will volunteer. The trust’s asset is the membership interest, but under § 16061 you can request information relevant to your interest, and where the trust controls the entity that reaches the operating agreement, the K-1s and the entity bank statements. Ask for those specifically rather than asking about the house. **The trustee is also the manager of the LLC. Is that a conflict?** It is at minimum a position that needs explaining. He is on both sides of every dealing between the trust and the entity, including management fees and the valuation of the interest. That is not automatically improper, and the trust may authorize it, but the terms belong somewhere you can see them. **Will asking for an accounting make this public?** No. A written demand is private correspondence and nothing gets filed. Only a petition creates a public record. That distinction matters more here than almost anywhere, and it is a reason to make the written demand properly rather than waiting. **Do I file in the Valley?** No. Los Angeles County hears probate and trust matters downtown at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, 111 N. Hill Street. There is no Valley probate court. **The trustee valued the LLC interest himself. Can he do that?** He can propose a value, but § 16063 requires the account to show how assets were valued rather than just the figure. Ask who appraised the interest, what discounts for lack of marketability or control were applied, and on what date. Those discounts are where the number really gets made. [Talk to Eric](https://ridley.click/eric-60) or call 805-244-5291. I serve Hidden Hills and all of Los Angeles County. For the statewide rules, see [beneficiary rights in a California trust](https://ridleylawoffices.com/beneficiary-rights-california-trust/). For what the trustee is supposed to be sending you, see [the duty to inform and account](https://ridleylawoffices.com/trustee-duty-to-inform-account-16060-california/). For planning in the city itself, see [estate planning in Hidden Hills](https://ridleylawoffices.com/estate-planning-hidden-hills/).