Your Documents:
A note about document requests: When our clients leave our office upon the conclusion of creating their Trusts with us, they have all of their original documents, as well as multiple original "Certification of Trust" documents for their use in conducting Trust related transactions such as opening and managing bank accounts, investments, real property, etc.. The Certification of Trust is a complete and sufficient document evidencing the Trustee's identity and authority to conduct transactions pursuant to California Probate Code. If the client does not have their documents for any reason, they should contact us to discuss how to resolve this problem, since the original Trust documents should always be safeguarded and will be needed in its original form to be effective (copies do not have the same effect).
By law, attorneys cannot reveal or release any confidential client information to third parties without obtaining written releases from the CLIENT. If at any point after your matter is completed, you, your child, your sibling, your realtor, etc. calls our office to ask us to provide additional copies of any of our file documents about YOU, our staff in most cases will not even be able to reveal whether or not you were our Client. There are exceptions that could apply if they provide documents evidencing the Client's death or incapacity but otherwise, YOU must contact us to make the request and provide a completed, signed File Retrieval & Authorization to Release Copies/Information form along with a valid form of identification. This is to protect our Clients' privacy and important confidential information, and how we must conform to our legal and ethical obligations to safeguard the confidential information entrusted to us by our Clients.
Once the signed File Retrieval & Authorization to Release Copies/Information form is received, our staff must verify the Client's identity and signature, locate and review the firm's file copy archives for that closed Client matter, confirm that the requested document is still recoverable, copy or format and package the requested documents, and send them securely to the parties authorized by the CLIENT to receive them. This process requires extensive staff time and resources, for which we charge a nominal fee. We are not a document storage service and copies do not have the same effect as originals; it is very important that Clients SECURELY STORE their own original documents at all times. Most of the time, Clients have their original documents safely stored and our file copy retrieval services should never be necessary. If your original Trust documents have been lost, file retrieval alone from our copy archives (if available) will NOT solve the problem, and additional attorney services will be needed to replace lost originals; Clients (NOT third parties) should contact our office immediately to discuss lost documents with us.
