Lawsuit challenges California land acquisition under trust

Trusts are often recognized as one of the best ways to convey property or money to someone as part of an estate plan. The reasons to create a trust extend from saving on possible taxes to seeing that a lifetime wish is enacted during a person’s life.

Another form of trust involves purchases made on behalf of another party. The federal government, for example, can purchase land in trust for a Native American reservation or other protected entity.

An activist group filed a lawsuit against a protected tribe and the federal department responsible for managing them to prevent new construction near California’s Highway 99. The lawsuit suggests that the department’s acquisition of land in trust for the tribe may not be legal.

The plaintiff cites a California law which would prevent the federal government from acquiring land in trust in this way. The defendants answered with a request for summary judgment, in which a court may immediately rule on the applicability of a lawsuit.

The lawsuit also cites environmental concerns surrounding the construction site. The defendants claim that the site in question was ruled to be the best possible site out of the options in the possible control of the tribe, including the land that could be purchased under trust.

Parties to a dispute regarding a trust may have a case in court for transfer of a trust’s control or a new disposition of the assets held in one. Legal representation can help resolve trust disputes and determine once and for all in legal terms who receives what under the background of a trust.