Trusts and Estates Case Alerts

Where an elder is both beneficiary and personal representative, she has standing to bring an individual action for financial elder abuse regarding injury arising from an estate transaction impairing her individual interest in the estate. Read more

Counsel for proposed conservatee may waive client’s right to have the matter of establishment or reestablishment of LPS conservatorship decided by jury trial, absent circumstances suggesting counsel lacked actual authority, counsel disregarded proposed conservatee’s wishes, or proposed conservatee was actually unaware of right to a jury trial. Read more

Trustee provided sufficient evidence that his no contest petition had minimal merit to defeat beneficiary’s anti-SLAPP motion because under the former no contest law a petition challenging a trustee’s investment decisions can amount to a contest since it seeks to impair provisions in the trust giving the trustee discretion to manage trust assets. Read more

Because the trust did not make the described method of revocation and amendment the exclusive method, statutory methods of amendment were available to the settlor Read more

A conservatee has no duty to investigate representations of fact in a conservator’s account, unless the conservatee becomes aware of facts from which a reasonably prudent person would suspect wrongdoing. Read more

To unilaterally sever a joint tenancy interest by way of a will, the language must express a clear and unequivocal intent to sever the joint tenancy, and be recorded. Read more

The community property presumption of Family Code 760 prevails over title only in actions between spouses, but after death the title presumption applies. Read more

An agent under a power of attorney has a fiduciary relationship to the principal when acting thereunder, and must account for funds controlled during the agency; there is no right to an evidentiary hearing where there is no offer of proof of contested factual issues. Read more

The court cannot delegate to the public guardian its discretion to determine whether compensation to the public guardian and its counsel would pose an economic hardship to the conservatee. Read more

The proposed conservatee’s inability or unwillingness to accept treatment voluntarily is not a necessary prerequisite to the establishment of LPS conservatorships. Read more