A Marvin agreement can give an unmarried partner an ownership share in public pension benefits earned during cohabitation despite statutory anti-assignment protection.
A trust equalization clause covering loans and gifts did not permit a court to revive time-barred claims over decades of family property income.
Appellate Division affirms that mortgage lien is void as against estate property fraudulently transferred through letters of administration obtained by misrepresentation — bona fide encumbrancer doctrine cannot protect a lender when the chain of title flows through a void (not merely voidable) instrument.
The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed a bench-trial judgment for Katya Hutton against the Estate of Robert P. Dykes, holding the district court did not abuse its discretion in implicitly denying Rule 37 sanctions—no prior order-to-show-cause hearing had been sought, the Estate declined an offered continuance, and trial testimony confirmed Hutton had produced everything in her possession—and that the court did not clearly err in finding the Estate failed to prove Hutton misappropriated condo rental income where the Marriott records it relied on were demonstrably unreliable.
California’s Second District Court of Appeal held that a spouse’s trust revocation during pending divorce proceedings is valid even though it was never filed with the court, as long as the other spouse received actual notice of the revocation as required by the trust instrument.
The First Department reverses a Surrogate’s Court order directing a trust to reimburse a trustee’s ,050,000 in legal fees, holding the petition must be held in abeyance until a pending federal action determines whether the trustee committed the alleged fiduciary breach.
In a question of first impression, the North Carolina Court of Appeals held that N.C.G.S. § 31-3.3 does not permit attesting witnesses to adopt signatures written entirely by a third party: because the statute expressly allows the testator to have another sign on his behalf but omits any similar provision for witnesses, the legislature’s intent is that witnesses must physically sign the will themselves, rendering invalid a revised will whose two witness signatures were written by the notary at the witnesses’ verbal direction while the witnesses never touched the pen.
In a first-impression decision, the North Carolina Court of Appeals held that N.C.G.S. § 31-3.3 bars attesting witnesses from having a third party write their signatures on a will, applying the expressio unius canon to the statute’s express testator proxy-signing provision and affirming summary judgment invalidating a revised will whose two witnesses never physically touched the pen.
California’s Second District holds that a standard 30-day survivorship clause in a revocable trust was not a “contrary intention” sufficient to override the antilapse statute and disinherit a predeceased son’s children.
The Second Department reversed summary judgment in a contested probate proceeding, finding triable issues of undue influence where an attorney-beneficiary held a power of attorney and was involved in will preparation during the decedent’s terminal illness.
The Fourth Department modifies Surrogate’s Court’s order in a will and trust contest by reinstating the objectant’s undue influence claim, finding triable issues of fact on whether the decedent’s will amendments were the product of undue influence.
The Third Department affirms Surrogate’s Court’s grant of letters of administration to the decedent’s surviving spouse over the objections of other family members.
The Third Department affirms Surrogate’s Court’s settlement of a trust accounting, dismissal of objections regarding alleged overconcentration of stock, and award of trustee’s counsel fees payable from the objecting beneficiary’s share.
Delaware Superior Court awards attorney’s fees under the bad faith exception after an assisted living facility pursued frivolous third-party claims against a dementia patient’s relatives who held power of attorney.
Fourth District holds that a breaching trustee’s inability to pay is not a defense to Probate Code section 859’s mandatory double damages penalty and clarifies that postjudgment interest does not accrue on the prejudgment interest portion of the award.
Fourth District holds that a successful petitioner in a financial-elder-abuse trust dispute may recover attorney fees under Welfare and Institutions Code section 15657.5(a), even though he also defended against the wrongdoers’ competing cross-claim for elder abuse.
First District affirms LPS conservatorship renewal and involuntary medication order for a 42-year-old man with undifferentiated schizophrenia, finding substantial evidence supports continued grave disability and incompetence to refuse antipsychotic medication.
First District affirms dismissal of an intentional-interference-with-expected-inheritance claim against the plaintiff’s brothers, holding the IIEI tort is not available where the plaintiff had an adequate remedy in probate (which she had earlier voluntarily dismissed).
Second District affirms a one-year LPS conservatorship renewal, holding the trial court adequately honored the conservatee’s jury-trial rights where she demanded a jury trial, was given time to consult counsel, and then personally withdrew her demand and confirmed her choice on the record.