Trusts and Estates Section

When Francesca died in 1997, her husband, Robert, became sole successor trustee of her trust. Robert was the lifetime beneficiary and Francesca’s two daughters from a prior marriage were the remainder beneficiaries. Christina, one of the remainder beneficiaries, filed a petition alleging Robert breached his fiduciary duties as trustee of Francesca’s trust. Read more

Settlor’s daughter Joan challenged the validity of eight amendments to and restatements of the Trust executed by the settlor in a three year period, which ultimately resulted in Joan’s disinheritance and removal as successor trustee of the Trust. Joan’s sister Shana benefited as a result of the challenged amendments with a larger share of the Trust and appointment as successor trustee. Read more

After a family dispute over a former trustee’s management of trust assets, the grantors removed the former trustee and appointed Claudia, a private professional fiduciary, as successor trustee. Claudia filed and obtained court approval of her first two trust accountings without objection. In 2016, after the second grantor died, Charles, one of the trust beneficiaries, demanded the third trust accounting as well as all supporting documents, including bank statements, attorney billing statements, and engagement letters. Read more

Arthur died in 2011, leaving most of his assets in trust for his four children in unequal subtrusts. The trust provided that Arthur’s son, Raymond, was to receive 35% of the trust and that Raymond’s subtrust would include Arthur’s ranch, which was worth $7.2 million at Arthur’s death. The trust also provided that the income tax of any subtrust was to be paid by that subtrust’s beneficiary. In 2014, the ranch sold for $14 million. Read more

Decedent Jerome Norman Post purchased a life insurance policy during his lifetime and named his then-spouse, Angela Post, as the primary beneficiary, and his sons from a prior marriage, Kenneth Post and Eric Post, as the contingent beneficiaries. Decedent was divorced at the time of his death, but he had not changed the beneficiary designation on his life insurance policy to remove his former spouse as the primary beneficiary. Read more

Beverly amended and restated her trust in 2013, naming herself as initial trustee and her son Thomas as her successor. In 2014, Beverly died and Thomas succeeded her as trustee. Beverly’s daughter, Nancy, filed petitions seeking, among other things, to invalidate the trust and to remove Thomas as trustee. After Thomas filed an inadequate accounting, the probate court suspended him and ordered him to turn over all trust records to the interim co-trustees. Read more

Decedent Norman Casserley and Paul Blazevich were neighbors. In 1997, Decedent was convicted of a crime and ordered to pay Blazevich restitution. Ten years later, Blazevich recorded the order and then obtained an amended order which increased the restitution award. In 2008, Blazevich executed and recorded an assignment of the original (but not the amended) order to his wife Emerita Cruz Joya. The amended order was not recorded until after Casserley’s death in 2015. Read more

On August 21, 2015, Gordon B., a 75-year-old disabled veteran, obtained an elder abuse restraining order against his neighbor, Sergio Gomez, based on various acts of misconduct including destruction of personal property, verbal abuse, obscene gestures, attempts to run over Gordon B. with a pickup truck, and setting off large fireworks on Gordon B.’s driveway. Read more

P.D. suffered from schizophrenia, and the Public Guardian sought an LPS conservatorship on the ground that P.D. was gravely disabled as a result of a mental disorder. The trial court gave the jury two special instructions concerning the possible consequences of an LPS conservatorship. In the first special instruction, the trial court explained that an LPS conservator would have the right to require the conservatee to obtain medical treatment, to place the conservatee in a facility, and to receive and expend funds for the conservatee. Read more

In prior probate proceedings plaintiff Norman Bartsch Herterich made a claim to his father Hans Bartsch’s entire estate as an omitted child on the basis that Bartsch either did not believe, or forgot, that he had a child when he executed his will. The probate court granted summary judgment against plaintiff, and concluded that substantial evidence showed that Bartsch was aware of plaintiff’s existence when he executed his will. Read more