In brief: A California court may remove a trustee who has breached the trust, is unfit, fails to act, or takes excessive compensation, and may suspend the trustee’s powers while removal is pending (Probate Code § 15642). For Calabasas families with a trustee who will not cooperate, Hackard Law handles these cases on contingency: no fee and no costs if there is no recovery, unless your written agreement provides otherwise.
By Michael Hackard, California trust and estate litigation attorney. Last reviewed October 26, 2026. Updated November 3, 2026.
Most Calabasas trust disputes share one complaint: the person in charge will not do the job, or is doing it for themselves. A sibling named as trustee stops answering. Distributions stall. The house sits empty while the trustee decides what to do with it.
The origin of the name is disputed; it may come from a native word or from Spanish for pumpkin or wild gourd. The Leonis Adobe, dating to 1844 and home of Basque rancher Miguel Leonis, became Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 1 in 1962. Calabasas incorporated in 1991.
A court may remove a trustee who has committed a breach of trust, is insolvent or otherwise unfit, fails or declines to act, or takes excessive compensation, or for other good cause (Probate Code § 15642). If trust property may suffer loss while removal is pending, the court can suspend the trustee’s powers and appoint a temporary trustee or receiver.
Removal is often paired with surcharge: an order that the trustee personally repay what the breach cost the trust (Probate Code § 16420). If a trustee’s opposition to a beneficiary’s challenge to an account is found to be without reasonable cause and in bad faith, the court may order the trustee to pay the beneficiary’s attorney’s fees and costs (Probate Code § 17211(b)).
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census, 2025 population estimates, and American Community Survey 2020–2024.
Trust and probate cases for Calabasas are heard in the probate departments of Los Angeles County Superior Court, Stanley Mosk Courthouse, 111 North Hill Street, Los Angeles, California 90012, approximately 28 driving miles from Calabasas. Actual distance varies by starting point and route. Hackard Law’s office is in Sacramento County. The firm handles matters in Los Angeles County Superior Court and throughout California.
Hackard Law represents families on a contingency basis. The fee is a percentage of the recovery, stated in a written agreement before work begins. The firm advances the costs of the case, which are repaid from the recovery. If there is no recovery, you owe no fee and no costs, unless your written agreement provides otherwise.
Yes, by petition to the court. Under Probate Code § 15642, the court may remove a trustee for breach of trust, unfitness, failure to act, excessive compensation, or other good cause, and may suspend the trustee’s powers while the petition is pending if trust property is at risk.
Surcharge is a court order requiring a trustee to pay back losses caused by a breach of trust (Probate Code § 16420). The trustee can be charged with the loss to the trust, any profit the trustee made through the breach, or profit the trust would have earned without it (Probate Code § 16440).
In some cases. If a beneficiary contests a trustee’s account and the court finds the trustee’s opposition was without reasonable cause and in bad faith, the court may order the trustee to pay the beneficiary’s costs and attorney’s fees, charged first against the trustee’s compensation or interest in the trust (Probate Code § 17211(b)).
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