Category: Probate

California Courts May Scrutinize Conservator Fees

Private professional fiduciaries in California are entitled to charge a reasonable fee for their services, but their fees for acting as conservators are subject to close court scrutiny. A recent California Court of Appeal case, In re Conservatorship of Presha (2018) 26 Cal.App.5th 487, shows how closely probate judges and their staffs may examine the … Continue Reading

Don’t Let Time Run Out on Updating Your Life Insurance Beneficiaries

By Jeffrey S. Galvin on July 2, 2018 Posted in Beneficiaries, Divorce, Probate, San Mateo County Superior Court

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) ____ Cal.App.5th ____.… Continue Reading

Executor Can Swing Away at an Omitted Spouse Petition

By Jeffrey S. Galvin on March 5, 2018 Posted in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Probate

Born in Fresno, Kirk Kerkorian was an Armenian-American who went on to become a wealthy businessman and philanthropist, known for his role in shaping development in Las Vegas. After Kerkorian died in June 2015 at the age of 98, his last wife Una Davis filed a claim for a third of his large estate as … Continue Reading

Anti-SLAPP Case Features Arm Wrestling Siblings and a Prep School

By Jeffrey S. Galvin on October 9, 2017 Posted in Inheritance Disputes, Legal Expenses, No Contest Clauses, Probate, Trust Administration, Will/Trust Contests

California’s anti-SLAPP statute has generated another published case for trust and estate lawyers to ponder. Last week, in Urick v. Urick (2017) ___ Cal.App.5th ___, the California Court of Appeal confirmed that anti-SLAPP motions can be used to attack petitions to enforce no contest clauses. The opinion reminds California trust and estate counsel to be … Continue Reading

When Is a Will Valid in California?

By Tyson E. Hubbard on September 26, 2017 Posted in Estate Planning, Probate, Will Execution, Will/Trust Contests

Although much wealth passes today through trusts and beneficiary designations, we occasionally handle California probate disputes that turn on the validity of wills, sometimes involving high value estates. The standard practice in California estate planning is for wills to be typewritten and prepared by attorneys, but those steps are not necessary. A holographic, i.e., handwritten, … Continue Reading

California Professional Fiduciaries Help Elders and Resolve Conflicts

By Jeffrey S. Galvin on August 1, 2017 Posted in Conservatorships, Private Professional Fiduciaries, Probate, Trust Administration

California trust and estate disputes may be avoided or resolved with the appointment of a private professional fiduciary to act in an oversight role with respect to an elder’s care and/or finances. In a recent post, we suggested the use of professional fiduciaries or bank trust departments to resolve conflicts among family member co-trustees. Here … Continue Reading

Just the FAQs: California Trust and Estate Litigation’s Greatest Hits, Part 1

By Tyson E. Hubbard on March 20, 2017 Posted in Beneficiaries, Estate Planning, Probate, Trust Administration, Trustees

In our Sacramento trust and estate litigation practice there are several questions that come up over and over again. In many instances, these questions are the building blocks of our practice that lead to more complicated questions that sometimes require the filing of a lawsuit to answer. As a starting place, below are some of … Continue Reading

A Friend Request From The Beyond: California’s New Post-Death Digital Assets Law

By Tyson E. Hubbard on January 10, 2017 Posted in Estate Administration, Estate Planning, Non-Probate Transfers, Probate, Trust Administration

Next time you schedule an appointment with Downey Brand’s Sacramento office to revise your estate plan you will have a new question to consider: who will manage your Facebook account when you’re gone? Assembly Bill No. 691, which became effective on January 1, 2017, attempts to aid in that process. It is commonly called the … Continue Reading

Sacramento Court Limits Reach of Anti-SLAPP Law in Trust Disputes

By Jeffrey S. Galvin on October 17, 2016 Posted in Legal Expenses, Probate, Trust Administration

A few months ago, I wrote about the anti-SLAPP statute as a powerful defensive tool in California trust and estate litigation. Adding new light to the subject is a Sacramento-based appellate court’s decision in Greco v. Greco (2016) 2 Cal.App.5th 810. The case narrows the ability of fiduciaries to bring motions to dismiss under the … Continue Reading

Watch Out for SLAPPs in California Trust and Estate Litigation

By Jeffrey S. Galvin on July 11, 2016 Posted in Inheritance Disputes, Legal Expenses, Probate, Trust Administration, Will/Trust Contests

In heated California trust and estate litigation, one party’s petition to the probate court often leads the other side to file a retaliatory petition. If Sally petitions in Sacramento County Superior Court to contest Mom’s trust amendment on the ground that Mom had Alzheimer’s disease and lacked sufficient mental capacity to reduce Sally’s share, brother … Continue Reading

Where Credit Is Due – California Creditor Claims Against An Estate

By Tyson E. Hubbard on June 13, 2016 Posted in Creditor Claims, Probate

Speak promptly or forever lose your rights. Creditor claims are an intricate area of California probate law that fills chapters in legal treatises. Fail to comply with the nuanced rules and you lose your claim against a decedent’s estate even if liability is otherwise rock solid. But what is a creditor claim and when is … Continue Reading

“You Don’t Have to Be Rich” to Need a Plan

By Jeffrey S. Galvin on May 16, 2016 Posted in Advance Health Care Directives, Asset Distribution, Inheritance Disputes, Probate, Will/Trust Contests

Prince died in April 2016 without a will or trust, according to documents recently filed by his sister in the Carver County District Court in Minnesota. Perhaps a will or trust will surface eventually, as occurred with Michael Jackson’s estate. However, the revelation in “The Morning Papers” that Prince died intestate (legalese for no will … Continue Reading

California Trust Litigation – A Primer on Preparing For Trial

By Tyson E. Hubbard on April 4, 2016 Posted in Evidence, Probate

Once your petition has been filed in the probate department of the Superior Court of California, and you are engaged in full-on “trust litigation,” what happens next? In most instances, it will be time to prepare for trial through a process called “discovery.” Discovery is the interval between when you file your petition and the … Continue Reading

Double Damages, Even In Death

By Tyson E. Hubbard on March 14, 2016 Posted in Appeal, Probate, Trustees

In addition to bark, the Probate Code can have bite too. Some Probate Code sections have provisions that are punitive in nature and are designed to keep fiduciaries and others dealing with trust property in line. These statutes have sharp teeth. Take, for example, California Probate Code section 859, which concerns property taken from a … Continue Reading

An Introduction to Department 129 of Sacramento County Superior Court

By Jeffrey S. Galvin on January 18, 2016 Posted in Probate, Sacramento County Superior Court, Trust Administration, Will/Trust Contests

This month Judge Steven M. Gevercer will replace Judge David F. De Alba as the probate judge in Department 129 of the Sacramento County Superior Court. Judge Gevercer was appointed to the bench by Governor Jerry Brown in 2012 and previously served in the California Attorney General’s Office. Judges typically spend a year or two … Continue Reading

Put Up Your Dukes: Courts Can Fix Mistakes in Wills … Sometimes

By Jeffrey S. Galvin on December 14, 2015 Posted in Inheritance Disputes, Probate, Will/Trust Interpretation

Sound estate planning requires a clear description of how property will pass upon death – in other words, who gets what. So what happens when the written terms differ from what the will’s creator actually wanted? Earlier this year, the California Supreme Court ruled in Estate of Duke (2015) 61 Cal.4th 871 that courts may … 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.

Trust on Trial