Top 10 Types of Estate Battles | CA Probate & Trust Litigation

At Hackard Law, we’ve identified 10 of the most common probate, trust and estate battles that California heirs and beneficiaries will face. This is not an exclusive list, but we hope that it helps those who may be facing trust or estate litigation. This may help to answer the question often posed - Are we the only family that is facing this kind of problem? You’re far from the only family.

1. Petitions against Former Trustees Alleging Wrongful Acquisition and Misappropriation of Trust Assets. These cases can be quite messy. Successor trustees to original settlors or makers of trusts are often family members. Putting together a priority list for designation of successor trustees isn’t an easy task for the makers of the trust, and the disclosure of the list to children or other beneficiaries is not always met with ready acceptance.

What can happen when successor trustees take charge of the trust? At the death of the trust maker, the first successor in interest is appointed. This can be a readily accepted choice among heirs, or it can be an object of criticism and disagreement. New purchases of cars, boats, houses and exotic vacations taken by the successor trustee are an invitation to suspicion. We often see the suspicion that trust assets are not being fairly administered – and maybe even wrongfully taken by the successor trustee.

In those cases where family members decide to challenge the actions of the successor trustee, the successor trustee might resign or otherwise be removed from his or her position. Under such circumstances, the new trustee gets to look at accounts and make a determination whether assets were transferred – and if transferred – whether the transfers were the result of undue influence or fraud.

The battleground is then set. Were the asset transfers valid gifts? Were signatures forged? What was the mental capacity of the transferor? What was the health of the transferor? Were the gifts made consistent with long solidified estate plans? The fight is on.

Learn more: https://www.hackardlaw.com/