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Probate Code 15305: Support Creditor’s Claim Against a Spendthrift Trust Many California living trusts contain a “spendthrift clause”— a clause designed to protect trust assets from claims made by a beneficiary’s creditors. Spendthrift provisions commonly include a “shutdown clause,” which stops payments to a beneficiary during any time that the trust could be subject to creditors’ claims. A recent decision held that under California Probate Code Section 15305, the trial court has the power to order a trustee to satisfy a final child support order, irrespective of any shutdown clause. (Pratt v. Ferguson (2016) 2016 WL 4613353.) This article discusses the Pratt decision, and how the language of Probate Code Section 15305 is applied to a creditor’s claims against a trust with spendthrift and shutdown clauses.