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The probate unit of the Sacramento County Superior Court (Department 129) will have a new judge in January 2020.  Judge Kevin R. Culhane will be the probate judge, replacing Judge John P. Winn who has served in that role since January 2018.

After many years as a civil trial lawyer, Judge Culhane joined the bench in 2009.  He was the Presiding Judge of the Sacramento County Superior Court from 2016-2017 and received the Judge of the Year Award from the Sacramento County Bar Association in 2017.  A Sacramento Lawyer article on Judge Culhane, written by Presiding Justice Art Scotland (ret.), can be found here.

Department 129, located on the second floor of the William R. Ridgeway Family Relations Courthouse amidst family law departments, handles all proceedings under the Probate Code, ranging from guardianships, conservatorships and routine probate matters to hotly-contested trust and estate disputes.  While “short cause” trials are heard in Department 129, “long cause” trials are sent to trial departments at the Gordon D. Schaber Sacramento County Courthouse in downtown Sacramento.

Sacramento County has a high volume of probate cases.  According to the most recent report from the Judicial Council of California, Sacramento had 2,047 new probate filings in fiscal year 2017-2018, more than double the probate filings in San Francisco.  At a typical 9:00 a.m. probate calendar in Department 129, several dozen matters are heard.

Jeffrey Galvin is an attorney with Downey Brand LLP, based in Sacramento. He litigates trust and estate cases in Northern California, including disputes involving trust and probate administration, contests of trusts and wills, and financial elder abuse claims.

Tags: Department 129, Judge Kevin R. Culhane
Photo of Jeffrey S. Galvin Jeffrey S. Galvin

Jeff Galvin is a partner at Downey Brand LLP. He represents clients in trust and estate litigation, and related civil disputes, in the Greater Sacramento area and across Northern California. He is also licensed to practice in Nevada. Many of Jeff’s clients have…

Jeff Galvin is a partner at Downey Brand LLP. He represents clients in trust and estate litigation, and related civil disputes, in the Greater Sacramento area and across Northern California. He is also licensed to practice in Nevada. Many of Jeff’s clients have no prior experience with litigation and he works to identify and pursue the results that matter most to them.

Jeff advises trustees, administrators and executors who find themselves in conflict with beneficiaries. He helps beneficiaries assert their rights in trust and probate estates. He often litigates cases involving claims of breach of fiduciary duty in which a beneficiary seeks to remove and/or surcharge a trustee, administrator or executor. He prosecutes and defends trust contests and will contests, which typically raise issues of mental capacity, undue influence and elder financial abuse. For example, he successfully defended a trust contest in a 25-day trial in Calaveras County and then defended the judgment on appeal. Jeff also has filed conservatorship actions to stop financial elder abuse.

Jeff is a graduate of UCLA School of Law. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Trusts and Estates Section of the California Lawyers Association and serves as a host on the Section’s “Trust Me!” podcast.

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