To remove a trustee in California, a settlor, co-trustee, or beneficiary files a petition in the probate division of the Superior Court under Probate Code § 15642, proves one of the statutory grounds (breach of trust, unfitness, incapacity, hostility among co-trustees, or a breakdown that prevents administration), and asks the court to order removal and appoint a successor. The court can also remove a trustee on its own, though that is rare. Everything else in the process (notice, hearing, accounting, transition) turns on getting the petition right and matching the facts to a ground the statute recognizes.
Who Has Standing to File
Probate Code § 15642(a) limits removal petitions to three groups: the settlor who created the trust, any co-trustee, and any beneficiary. A relative who isn’t a beneficiary, a family friend, or a creditor cannot bring the petition, no matter how legitimate their concerns.1California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 15642
Check the trust document first. Some trusts include their own removal mechanism, such as a majority of beneficiaries agreeing to replace the trustee without going to court. If the trust provides for this and the trustee will cooperate, you may not need a petition at all. Court involvement becomes necessary when the trustee refuses to step down or the trust’s internal mechanism fails.
Grounds the Court Will Consider
Section 15642(b) lists the specific bases for removal. A petition needs to tie its facts to at least one of them.
Breach of Trust
This is the most common ground and covers a wide range of misconduct: spending trust funds on personal expenses, making reckless investments, failing to distribute income when the trust requires it, or ignoring the trust document’s terms outright. One serious breach can support removal, and so can a pattern of smaller violations that together show the trustee cannot be relied on to follow the rules.1California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 15642
Insolvency or Unfitness
A trustee who is insolvent or otherwise unfit can be removed. Unfitness is deliberately broad: serious personal financial problems that raise the temptation to dip into trust funds, a fraud or dishonesty conviction, or conduct and judgment that have deteriorated to the point where the person shouldn’t be managing anyone’s money.
Hostility That Impairs Administration
When co-trustees can’t cooperate well enough to make decisions, pay bills, or manage investments, the court can remove one or more of them to break the deadlock. What matters is whether the hostility actually impairs administration, not whether the co-trustees dislike each other.
Incapacity
A trustee who is substantially unable to manage the trust’s financial resources or perform their duties due to physical or mental incapacity can be removed. California uses the same capacity standards as conservatorship proceedings under Probate Code §§ 810–813, so the bar isn’t age or occasional mistakes. The impairment must genuinely prevent the trustee from functioning in the role.
Breakdown in Trustee-Beneficiary Relations
Even without formal misconduct, a relationship that has deteriorated to the point where the trustee refuses to communicate, ignores reasonable requests for information, or treats beneficiaries with open hostility can support removal. Hurt feelings alone won’t do it. The court is looking at whether the breakdown actually interferes with the trust operating as it should.
Filing the Petition
The petition is filed in the probate division of the Superior Court in the county where the trust is administered. It must identify the trust, name the trustee being challenged, and set out specific facts supporting removal: dates, amounts, transactions, communications, or other concrete evidence tied to one or more statutory grounds. Vague complaints about the trustee’s personality don’t survive initial review.
Under Probate Code § 17200, the same petition can request related relief: an order compelling the trustee to provide an accounting, a required distribution, appointment of a successor, or damages for losses caused by breach.2California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 17200 Bundling requests together avoids the cost of separate proceedings.
Notice
The petitioner must give notice of the hearing to all trustees and all beneficiaries under Probate Code § 17203.3California Legislative Information. California Probate Code PROB 17203 Notice must be delivered as required by Probate Code § 1215, generally by personal delivery or mail at least 30 days before the hearing. Missing a required party can delay the case or cause the court to refuse to rule.
Filing Fees
As of January 1, 2026, the filing fee for a probate petition in California Superior Court is $435. Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Francisco counties charge slightly more due to local construction surcharges.4Superior Court of California. Statewide Civil Fee Schedule Effective January 1, 2026 The filing fee is the smallest part of the cost. Attorney fees, expert witnesses, and the time it takes to build a case can run from a few thousand dollars in a simple matter to six figures in a contested fight over a large trust.
The Hearing
At the hearing, the petitioner carries the burden of proof. That means showing, through evidence, that the trustee’s conduct or circumstances meet one or more statutory grounds. Financial records, bank statements, communications, expert testimony, and witness accounts are all in play.
The trustee gets a full opportunity to respond, introduce records, explain decisions, and challenge the petitioner’s version of events. Trust administration involves judgment calls that can look questionable in hindsight but were reasonable at the time, and experienced trustees know how to frame those decisions. The judge weighs everything against one central question: does keeping this trustee in place serve or harm the beneficiaries?
If the court finds sufficient grounds, it issues an order removing the trustee and either appoints the successor named in the trust document or selects one. Removal takes effect immediately unless the order says otherwise.
Protecting the Trust While the Case Is Pending
Removal petitions can take months. When the trust needs protection in the meantime (say, the petition alleges active waste of assets or improper distributions), the court has discretion under Probate Code § 17206 to appoint a temporary trustee to manage all or part of the trust while the case is pending.5California Legislative Information. California Probate Code PROB 17206 Ask for this in the petition itself if the situation calls for it.
What Removal Means for the Outgoing Trustee
A removed trustee must produce a detailed accounting covering every transaction during their tenure: income received, expenses paid, investments made and sold, distributions to beneficiaries, and fees taken. Probate Code § 16062 requires this at any change of trustee.6California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 16062 Hidden problems often surface here, because once every dollar is traced, missing funds and undisclosed transactions become visible.
If the trustee’s misconduct caused financial harm, the court can hold them personally liable under Probate Code § 16420: ordering restoration of the trust’s value, imposing an equitable lien on the trustee’s own property, or tracing wrongfully transferred assets and recovering them.7California Legislative Information. California Probate Code PROB 16420 The court can also deny the trustee compensation for the period during which they breached their duties.
Attorney fees are one of the most contentious points. Under Probate Code § 17211, the court can award fees in trust proceedings. In practice, a trustee generally uses trust funds to pay for their defense while the case is pending, on the theory that they’re entitled to defend their administration until a breach is proven. If the court finds a breach, it can order the trustee to reimburse the trust for those defense costs on top of damages, and a prevailing beneficiary may recover their own fees from the trust or directly from the removed trustee.
The Successor Trustee
Most trusts name a successor who steps in automatically. If no successor is named, or the named person can’t or won’t serve, the court appoints one.
Under Probate Code § 16403, a successor trustee is generally not liable for breaches committed by the previous trustee.8California Legislative Information. California Probate Code PROB 16403 That protection has limits. A successor who discovers a predecessor’s breach and does nothing about it can become personally liable for allowing the harm to continue. In practice, an incoming trustee needs to review the predecessor’s records, identify problems, and take steps to recover misused assets or correct ongoing violations.
Resignation as an Alternative
Not every dispute needs to end in a courtroom fight. Probate Code § 15640 allows a trustee to resign voluntarily by following the trust document’s resignation procedure, obtaining the consent of all adult beneficiaries, or petitioning the court.9California Legislative Information. California Probate Code PROB 15640 When a trustee sees the case building against them, a negotiated resignation is usually faster and cheaper than a contested removal, and it spares the trustee a public finding of breach. If you’re the beneficiary or co-trustee weighing a petition, opening a resignation conversation before filing is often worth trying.
Why Removal Petitions Fail
Removal petitions fail more often than beneficiaries expect. The petitioner carries the burden, and a trustee who can produce clean financial records, timely accountings, and a documented history of communication puts the case on a hard footing from the start. Trust administration involves discretion, and courts give trustees room to make judgment calls that turn out badly as long as the process was reasonable.
Incapacity claims fail when the medical evidence isn’t strong enough. California presumes adults are capable, and a few memory lapses or a health scare won’t clear the “substantially unable” bar. Self-dealing claims often fail against a trustee who disclosed the conflict in writing, got an independent appraisal, or obtained beneficiary consent before acting. And a petition can be dismissed on standing grounds if the person filing isn’t a settlor, co-trustee, or beneficiary, or weakened by delay when the beneficiary knew about the problem and waited years to act (though California courts give this less weight when the breach is ongoing or the trustee concealed their misconduct).
The practical read: a petition succeeds when the facts are documented, tied clearly to a statutory ground, and material enough that the court can see keeping the trustee in place would harm the beneficiaries. Petitions built on frustration rather than evidence tend to lose.