Legal News

Case Summaries

Probate Trusts

[11/26] Estate of Bennett
In a suit against defendant-police officers for the shooting death of decedent following gunfire initiated by decedent, judgment in favor of defendants is affirmed where: 1) the district court properly granted defendant-officer's motion to dismiss where the estate failed to show a deprivation of a protected interest in life, liberty, or property; 2) the district court did not err in dismissal by judgment on the pleadings because plaintiff-estate did not meet its pleading requirements, plaintiff-estate waived its equal protection claim, and there was no property interest that was allegedly taken to support the takings claim; and 3) grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants was proper.

[11/06] Aguilar v. Aguilar
Denial of petition to undo a wife's withdrawal of trust property brought by a remainder beneficiary of the trust is reversed and remanded where: 1) even though the property the wife sought to withdraw was her share of the community property, it was too late for her to withdraw it; 2) irrevocable trusts are binding, even on their trustors; and 3) as the life beneficiary, the wife could continue to enjoy the property as held by the trust.

[10/16] Schwartz v. Schwartz
Denial of petition for order directing distribution of trust property and granting respondent's petition to invoke the no-contest clause of the trust is affirmed where the trial court had jurisdiction to deny appellant's petition following his alleged withdrawal of the pleading.

[10/09] Estate of Felder
In a property matter in which objector sought the deposit he paid as a defaulting purchaser of real property owned in part by the estate, probate court order is affirmed where the probate court properly allowed the estate to retain the entirety of objector's $48,000 deposit as damages under Probate Code section 10350 subdivision (e).

[10/01] Haneline Pacific Properties, LLC v. May
Grant of defendant's anti-strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP) motion is reversed and remanded where: 1) the gravamen of plaintiff's complaint did not relate to contemplated litigation but attempted at persuasion and negotiation between co-owners of property regarding how best to manage their property; 2) because the communications at issue were not covered by the litigation privilege, the anti-SLAPP motion should not have been granted; and 3) plaintiffs failed to develop an argument regarding entitlement to attorney's fees based on finding that anti-SLAPP motion was "frivolous" or "intended to cause unnecessary delay".

[10/01] Gustafson v. zumBrunnen
In a suit alleging negligence and tortious interference against a bank and an attorney for allowing the withdrawal of funds from a bank account that should have been part of a decedent's estate, dismissal for lack of federal diversity jurisdiction is affirmed where: 1) under 28 U.S.C. section 1332(c)(2), the legal representative of an estate suing on its behalf is a citizen of the same state as the decedent; 2) more than one person may be considered a legal representative of an estate for 1332(c)(2) purposes; and 3) under the applicable state law, a suit to bring property into an estate by someone other than the estate's representative was permissible only if the representative had failed to act to secure the property for the estate.

[09/14] Dummar v. Lummis
In a case involving the estate of the late billionaire Howard Hughes alleging that defendants deprived plaintiff of his inheritance by conspiring to cause a jury to reject a Holographic Will in 1978, dismissal of plaintiffs' claims is affirmed where: 1) fraud and federal RICO claims were each time-barred; 2) a Nevada RICO claim failed to state a claim; and 3) an unjust-enrichment claim was barred by issue preclusion.

[09/12] Estate of Kievernagel
In a suit by widow for use of her late husband's frozen sperm to attempt to conceive a child despite signed agreement by late husband to discard sperm upon his death, judgment denying distribution of sperm to widow is affirmed where determining the disposition of gamete material, to which no other party contributed and thus another party's right to procreational autonomy is not implicated, the intent of the donor must control.

[09/04] Masry v. Masry
In a probate matter, judgment finding that husband's revocation from joint trust was valid is affirmed where: 1) the revocation provision in the trust was not explicitly exclusive; and 2) husband's method of revocation complied with Probate Code section 15401, subdivision (a)(2).

[08/27] Estate of Clementi
Denial of petition to revoke probate is affirmed where: 1) the deceased manifested a sufficient intent to create a charitable trust through his will, although his will does not identify a specific charity; and 2) the deceased's stated intent to "give the balance of my assets to a charitable foundation or trust" is sufficient to create the trust.

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