Cases: Probate

Probate: Niece Successfully Obtaining Appointment of Independent Conservator For Person Of Conservatee Not Entitled To Fee Recovery Under Probate Code Section 2640.1

Cases: Probate

  Niece Not Entitled to Common Fund Recovery, However Maybe Indirect Recovery Appropriate Under Probate Code Section 2642, But That Section Was Never Raised.      Conservatorship of Mazzocco, Case No. E057485 (4th Dist., Div. 2 Nov. 25, 2014) (unpublished) involved some dueling conservatorship petitions for a consevatee having millions in assets even though he had […]

Common Fund/Probate: Former Trustee Obtaining Appointment Of Neutral Corporate Trustee And Distributions Of Benefits To Younger Generation Beneficiaries Were Entitled To Recovery Of $260,948.34 From Trust Under Common Fund Theory

Cases: Common Fund, Cases: Probate

  Actions Resulted in Younger Generations Getting $1 Million in Distributions Where Prior Distributions Only Went To Senior Generation Beneficiaries.      Neither the lower nor appellate courts in Gaynor v. Bulen, Case No. D064872 (4th Dist., Div. 1 Nov. 20, 2014) (unpublished) had much trouble with awarding certain former trustees of a trust attorney’s fees

Probate: Co-Trustee Brother Awarded Attorney Fees Of $178,850.15 While Co-Trustee Sister Denied Paralegal Fees Of $29,873.38

Cases: Probate

  Abuse of Discretion Standard Justified Brother’s Fees, While Sister Did Not Adequately Substantiate Paralegal Reimbursement Request.      In Arthur v. Davies, Case No. B249810 (2d Dist., Div. 6 Aug. 21, 2014) (unpublished), brother and sister had spent over $300,000 to compel trustee accountings, at times when they were both co-trustee. Brother eventually was awarded

Probate/Section 998: 998 Offer In Probate Court Found To Be Uncertain Based On Nonmonetary Terms Which Could Not Be Easily Ascertained

Cases: Probate, Cases: Section 998

Judgment Modification Terms Were Too Speculative in Nature.             Katz v. El Paseo Collection Elegante, Case No. G049807 (4th Dist., Div. 3 July 7, 2014) (unpublished) is a nice follow-on to our July 2, 2014 post in which we explored case law on what type of nonmonetary provisions in a CCP § 998 offer were

Arbitration/Probate/Sanctions: Trust Beneficiary Gets Hit With Settlement Agreement Fees/Costs And CCP § 128.7 Sanctions

Cases: Arbitration, Cases: Probate, Cases: Sanctions

Problem Was That Arbitrator Could Construe Settlement Agreement, While Probate Court Could Control Arbitrator Appointment Issues.             This is a case where a trust beneficiary in Estate of Buser Trust, Case No. Do63381 (4th Dist., Div. 1 July 3, 2014) (unpublished) somewhat stepped into litigation “goo,” especially where both a probate court and arbitrator were

Common Fund/Deadlines/Probate: Trust Beneficiaries Seeking Fees Under Common Fund Doctrine Should Have Been Allowed Something

Cases: Common Fund, Cases: Deadlines, Cases: Probate

CRC Rules on Filing Fee Motions Did Not Govern Probate Proceedings. ​The overall, convoluted probate dispute in Sheen v. Sheen, Case No. B243847 (2d Dist., Div. 8 July 1, 2014) (unpublished)—although colorful—does not involve extended discussion on the facts, although the appellate court did reverse lower court failures to award attorney’s fees to beneficiaries given

Probate/Special Fee Shifting Statute: $4,812 Venue Denial Order Properly Assessed Against Attorney In Probate Case

Cases: Probate, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes

Bad Faith Not Required, But Found and Sustained On Appeal. ​The interesting thing about this blog is that we, the co-contributors, learn something each day. ​Here is what we learned in the probate dispute of McDonnell v. Jarvis, Case No. H037704 (6th Dist. June 30, 2014) (unpublished), after we briefly summarize the case. The probate

Probate: Disallowance Of Some Attorney’s Fees Affirmed, Except Mathematical Error Corrected By Appellate Court

Cases: Probate

  Trustee Was Reasonable in Fighting Beneficiaries’ Accounting Challenges, Though, Such That Fees Reimbursed To Beneficiaries Had To Be Reversed and Retried.      In the probate area, benefit to a trust is what justifies payment of attorney’s fees incurred by the trustee. (Donahue v. Donahue, 182 Cal.App.4th 259, 268 (2010).) Beneficiaries, in accounting challenges, usually

Probate: Attorney Winning Judgment For Fee Work Against Former Partner’s Estate Not Divested By Former Partner’s Wife Attempt To “Gift” Her Community Property Portion To Daughters Before Wife Died

Cases: Probate

  Daughters Did Not Defeat Winning Attorney’s Judgment.      In Estate of Goldstein, Case No. A137103 (1st Dist., Div. 2 May 23, 2014) (unpublished), attorney Dacey had obtained a $7.6 million judgment against the estate of his former partner for fee work which Dacey did while in partnership with his former partner. He collected $2.2

Lodestar/Probate/Section 1717/Substantiation Of Fees: Court Affirms Fee Award On Fiduciary Duty Claims As Arising On Contract, Denies Fee Request Against Trustee Whose Opposition Was Not Frivolous, And Remands Lodestar Calculation

Cases: Lodestar, Cases: Probate, Cases: Section 1717, Cases: Substantiation of Reasonableness of Fees

Looks Like Decades Trust Disputes Are Drawing To An End.      Holt v. Denholm, Case Nos. G045496 and G046293 (4th Dist., Div. 3 Apr. 28, 2014) (unpublished)—both authored by Presiding Justice O’Leary–are two appeals involving cross-over probate and Civil Code section 1717 issues in a long-running battle between different sides of a family trust—pitting a

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