Losing Co-Trustee Had Reasonable Bases To Challenge Beneficiary’s Accounting Objections.
In Levy v. Jones, Case No. G051661 (4th Dist., Div. 3 Oct. 25, 2016) (unpublished), one beneficiary/co-trustee successfully obtained a $25,000 attorney’s fees award against another co-trustee based on objections to the trustee’s accounting. The appellate court, in a 3-0 decision authored by Justice Thompson, reversed. Losing co-trustee has reasonable cause to oppose the other co-trustee/beneficiary’s objections, with the so-called winning beneficiary actually losing many of his objections. That meant the fee award had to be overturned on appeal. (Uzyel v. Kadisha, 188 Cal.App.4th 866, 927-928 (2010).)