Suing the suer is a common strategy in California civil litigation. A special motion to strike, known as an anti-SLAPP motion, can be a powerful weapon against such retaliatory litigation. We have explained the use of such motions in trust and estate disputes. More specifically, we have explored the application of such motions to petitions to enforce no contest clauses
Probate & Estate Planning
So, You’re the Trustee of an Estate…Now What?
An essential aspect of estate planning is the Trustee, who will be tasked to carry out wishes. This is such an important role that potential Trustees are usually asked if they would be willing to take on the responsibility before being named in a Trust. Occasionally, however, Trustees are surprised to find that they have been named. Regardless of how…
Unilateral Severance of Joint Tenancy Must Be Unequivocal and Irrevocable
Can a California will sever a joint tenancy such that the decedent’s interest in real property passes per will’s terms instead of vesting in the surviving joint tenant(s)? Additionally, when a general partnership dissolves after the death of a partner’s spouse, does the deceased spouse’s estate have a community property interest in the distributed partnership assets?
The California Court of Appeal…
Trust Modification/Amendment Procedure Now Unsettled in California
The Legislature and courts endeavor to create well-defined laws, lest we devolve into the governance of Emperor Nero, who reputedly posted edicts high atop columns so as to be painfully difficult for the masses to read. As Nero surely knew, clarity in the law is critical for people to know how to act, especially when far-reaching consequences are at play.…
Governor Gavin Newsom Signs Sweeping Conservatorship Reform Bill
On September 30, 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom signed California AB 1194 amending numerous statutes pertaining to conservatorships. The following are highlights:
Internet Posting of Fees of Licensed Professional Fiduciary: On or before January 1, 2023, an individual licensed as a professional fiduciary (LPF) by the State of California, and who has an internet website, is required to post on their…
Making Peace in Mediation – A Conversation with Daniel Spector
Daniel Spector has litigated trust and estate cases in Northern California since the early 1990s. He is now focusing his practice on mediating trust and estate disputes across California, working with Judicate West. Dan is a colleague on the Executive Committee of the Trusts and Estates Section of the California Lawyers Association, and I thank him for sharing his…
Fraud Claims May Reopen Court-Approved Accountings
Even a court order approving an accounting may not protect a California fiduciary if the accounting is inaccurate. That’s the upshot of Hudson v. Foster (2021) ___ Cal.App.5th ___, a recent California Court of Appeal decision involving a conservatorship.
The conservatee in this case consented to the conservator’s account and four years passed before the conservatee complained about its…
Zach Young, Second Generation Fiduciary, Helps Families with Transitions
Zachary Young is a private professional fiduciary with CMY Fiduciary Services in Sacramento. His mother, Carolyn M. Young, began work as a fiduciary in 1986. Zach received his bachelor’s degree in business and communications at Sacramento State University. Zach joined his mother and sister, Lindsay Bowman, in the fiduciary business. In 2012, he received his fiduciary license from California’s Professional…
Don’t Skimp on The Facts – Failure of Fiduciaries to Make Full Disclosure of Matters Set Forth in an Accounting May be Considered Fraud
In the recently published case of Hudson v. Foster, 2021 Cal.App. LEXIS 737, the Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District, Division Five, determined that a former conservatee who discovered that certain transactions in his conservator’s previously approved accounting were falsely reported, was under no obligation to comb through records to verify the truth of the representations made by…
Fixing or amending a California probate court order part 1
By John Palley
I recently got to diagnose a new case that I thought would really speak to some of my readers. A potential client (we’ll call him Mr. P) called me about a case where his wife had died and he believed he was inheriting a property as her will left him everything she had. Certainly everything she had would include a…