(Editor’s Note: The Court of Appeal granted rehearing on December 2, 2019 such that the opinion referenced below is no longer citable.) It is widely understood in California that inherited assets, unlike assets earned from labor, are the separate property of the receiving spouse. But what if the assets do not come directly from a … Continue Reading
Your ex-spouse may take under your life insurance policy if you do not change your beneficiaries and there’s nothing a California probate court can do about it. So ruled the Court of Appeal last month in Estate of Post (2018) 24 Cal.App.5th 984.… Continue Reading
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
