Category: Bank Trust Departments

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Stepmother vs. Stepchild, Now Playing in a California Probate Court Near You

Stepmothers are frequent characters in California trust and estate litigation, as they are in fairy tales and Disney movies. With about half of all marriages ending in divorce, there are many stepmother/stepchild relationships. Mostly they work out fine, but some go south. After blogging on sibling conflicts as a driver of trust and estate disputes, … Continue Reading

California Trust Conflict Avoidance – A Bank Trust Officer’s Perspective

By Jeffrey S. Galvin on November 28, 2016 Posted in Bank Trust Departments, Conflict Avoidance, Inheritance Disputes

This week we share a perspective on California trust conflict avoidance from Chris Ann Bachtel, who is a Senior Vice President and trust manager at First Northern Bank, a regional bank founded in 1910 with branches across Northern California. Tell us about your background. I majored in Speech Communications and Theater at Wake Forest University. … Continue Reading

Welcome to our trust and estate litigation blog. Inheritance disputes are on the rise nationally as the baby boomers age and wealth passes from one generation to the next. This is high stress litigation, often pitting sibling against sibling or second spouse against step-children.

We cover hot button issues in California trust litigation and probate litigation, ranging from the flash points that we see in our cases to recent developments in the field. We discuss trust contests, will contests, and administration disputes. We explore issues of mental capacity, undue influence, fiduciary duty, and financial elder abuse. We follow how California courts grapple with dementia attributed to Alzheimer’s disease, which is becoming more prevalent in our population. We comment on local court practices, including procedures in Department 129 (the probate unit) of Sacramento County Superior Court. We hope that our blog will be of interest to estate planning professionals and to family members immersed in trust and estate disputes. We invite you to follow our blog and to get to know us through our posts.

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