You Received a Trust Notice Under Probate Code § 16061.7: Your Deadlines

If you received a trust notice under Probate Code § 16061.7, the trustee is legally required to tell you the trust exists and that you have a right to see its terms. It is not an accusation and it is not a lawsuit. It is a clock starting, and the clock is what matters: in most cases you have 120 days from the date the notice was served to contest the trust, or 60 days from the date you actually receive a copy of the trust terms if that happens later in the 120-day window, whichever ends later (Prob. Code § 16061.8).

Why you got this notice

California law requires a trustee to serve this notice on every beneficiary and every heir of the settlor within 60 days after the settlor’s death, or within 60 days after a revocable trust becomes irrevocable for any other reason (Prob. Code § 16061.7(f)). The notice has to identify the trustee, give you the trustee’s address, tell you that you are entitled to request a true and complete copy of the trust terms, and state that you have a right to contest the trust within the applicable limitation period. The statute also requires a specific boldface warning about that contest deadline (§ 16061.7(h)).

You are getting this notice because you fall into one of two categories: you are a named beneficiary under the trust, or you are an heir of the settlor, meaning someone who would have inherited under intestate succession law if there were no trust or will at all. Heirs get notice even if the trust leaves them nothing, precisely so they have the chance to contest it if they believe something is wrong.

What is the actual contest deadline?

This is the part people get wrong, including some attorneys who are not paying close attention. The deadline is not a flat 120 days. Under § 16061.8, a contest is barred after whichever of these two dates comes LATER:

In practice this means: if the trustee serves you the notice on day one and hands you the actual trust document the same day, your deadline is 120 days from service. But if the trustee serves the notice and then does not get you a copy of the trust terms until, say, day 90, your deadline shifts to 60 days from that later delivery date, which pushes you out to day 150. The later date always controls. As of 2026, this is verified directly against the statute, with no exceptions carved out for how the trustee characterizes the delay.

Nothing about this deadline is negotiable by informal agreement between you and the trustee. If you miss it, in most circumstances you lose the right to challenge the trust’s validity in court, even if you later find something troubling.

Do these five things now

1. Request the complete trust terms in writing, today. The notice alone is not the trust. Send the trustee (or the trustee’s attorney) a dated, written request for a true and complete copy of the trust instrument and all amendments. Keep a copy of your request and note the date you sent it, because that date can affect your 60-day clock under § 16061.8.
2. Confirm the date of service on the notice itself. Look for a postmark, a certified mail receipt, or a cover letter date. That date is the anchor for your 120-day period. Write it down.
3. Read the trust once you receive it, and note the date you received it. That date is the anchor for the alternate 60-day period. Compare the two calculated deadlines and calendar the later one, with a buffer of at least a week before it.
4. Ask the trustee for basic administration information. You are entitled to know who the trustee is and how to reach them. If you are a beneficiary (not just an heir), you can also ask about the trustee’s timeline for administration and, eventually, an accounting under Prob. Code § 16062.
5. Get the document in front of someone qualified before your deadline, not after. Whether or not you intend to contest anything, have someone who does this work look at the trust, the notice, and the dates, well before your calculated deadline. Waiting until week 16 of a 120-day window to ask a question is how valid concerns get lost to a filing deadline.

Are you a beneficiary, an heir, or both?

The notice does not always make this distinction clear, but it matters for how you think about your rights. A beneficiary is someone named to receive something under the trust as written. An heir is someone who would inherit under California’s intestate succession rules if the trust did not exist, meaning close family such as a spouse, children, or in some cases parents or siblings. Trustees are required to notify both groups under § 16061.7(f), which is why you may have received this notice even if the trust leaves you nothing. If you are an heir who received nothing and were expecting something, or who never knew the trust existed until this notice arrived, that gap is exactly the kind of thing worth asking about before your deadline runs.

What does “contesting” the trust actually mean?

A trust contest is a formal petition asking the probate court to invalidate the trust, or a specific provision of it, typically on grounds like lack of capacity, undue influence, fraud, forgery, or a defect in how the trust was created or amended. It is a real piece of litigation, not a letter of complaint. Most people who receive a § 16061.7 notice never file a contest, because most trusts were validly created and administered. But the right to contest exists precisely for the cases where something is genuinely wrong, and that right has a hard expiration date.

The cost of waiting is not abstract. If you have questions about how the trust was signed, whether the settlor had capacity at the time, whether someone pressured them, or whether a late amendment cut you out, and you let the § 16061.8 window close without acting, the court will treat those questions as forfeited. It does not matter whether you were busy, whether you were grieving, or whether you were waiting for the trustee to volunteer more information. The statute does not extend itself for any of those reasons.

People also underestimate how much slower everything else moves once the deadline has passed. Before the window closes, a concern can often be resolved with a phone call, a records request, or a conversation between counsel. Once it closes, the only remaining tool if new information surfaces later is far narrower and far more expensive, and in many cases there is no tool left at all. The 120/60-day period is not a formality to get through; it is the one point in the process where raising a concern is still relatively cheap.

When do you need a lawyer?

You do not need counsel simply to receive and read a § 16061.7 notice. Plenty of beneficiaries get the notice, get a copy of the trust, confirm the distribution makes sense, and move on with no lawyer involved. You should get counsel promptly if any of the following is true: you suspect undue influence or capacity issues; the trustee is slow-walking or refusing your written request for the trust terms; the distribution looks nothing like what the settlor told you, in writing or otherwise, during their lifetime; you are an heir who was left out entirely and you do not know why; or your calculated deadline is inside 30 days and you still have unanswered questions. Waiting to “see what happens” is the single most common way a legitimate contest right disappears.

What is the rule of thumb here?

The notice starts a clock, not a fight. Getting a § 16061.7 notice does not mean you are in a dispute with the trustee or with other beneficiaries. It means the law is giving you a defined window to ask questions and, if warranted, act on them, before that window closes for good.

Frequently asked questions

How long do I have to contest a trust after getting a § 16061.7 notice?

120 days from the date the notice was served on you, or 60 days from the date you actually receive a copy of the trust terms if that happens later within the 120-day period, whichever date is later (Prob. Code § 16061.8).

What is the first thing I should do after receiving a trust notice?

Request the complete trust terms in writing immediately, and note the date of your request, since it can affect your deadline calculation.

Does receiving a trust notice mean I am in a legal dispute?

No. The notice starts a clock, not a fight. It is a mandatory disclosure the trustee must send under Prob. Code § 16061.7(f); it does not itself allege any wrongdoing on anyone’s part.

What happens if I miss the contest deadline?

In most circumstances you lose the right to challenge the trust’s validity in court after the later of the two § 16061.8 deadlines passes, even if you later discover new concerns.

If you received a trust notice and are not sure which deadline applies to you, or you have questions about what the trust actually says, I can walk through the dates and the document with you.

Talk to Eric

Related reading: trust administration, successor trustee duties in California, siblings contesting trusts, frequently asked questions.