Glen Campbell | Estate Disinheritance Dispute
- December 28, 2018 - Celebrity Estate Battles, Estate Litigation, Trust Litigation,
Country music legend Glen Campbell, author of hits like Wichita Lineman and Rhinestone Cowboy, lived a long and fruitful 81 years. At the time of his passing away from Alzheimer’s disease in August of 2017, he would leave behind some 60 studio albums as well as eight children from four different marriages. With royalties included, his estate has been estimated to reach a scale of $50 million, seemingly more than enough for all beneficiaries. There was just one problem, though – Campbell disinherited three of his eight children in his 13-page will from 2006. For reasons unknown to the public, the country star specifically excluded daughter Kelli Campbell and sons William and Wesley Campbell from any sort of inheritance. Campbell desig[...]
Continue ReadingCalifornia Gambling Trustees | Abused Beneficiaries
- December 11, 2018 - Abused Beneficiaries, Trust Litigation,
California heirs and beneficiaries expect that trustees, estate representatives and executors will act as good and prudent fiduciaries. When these fiduciaries fail and take money belonging to trust beneficiaries, they may be subject to civil and even criminal penalties. There are several cases in point. A Sacramento woman was indicted by a federal grand jury in April 2018 for mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering (U.S. v. Stewart-Cabrera, United States District Court, E.D. California, Case No. 2:18-CR-0085 KJM). The woman, a professional fiduciary, served as the trustee of a trust that owned Sacramento property. The U.S. Attorney’s news release indicates that Loretta Darlene Stewart-Cabrera, the trustee, carried out a scheme in whi[...]
Continue ReadingCalifornia’s New Decanting Law | Fixing Broken Trusts
- October 30, 2018 - Estate Planning, Trust Litigation,
You’ve probably heard that “It’s not what you say, it’s what people hear.” Public opinion guru Dr. Frank Luntz is making a career from this truth – he explains that he is “testing language and find(ing) words that will help his clients” explain their products or public issues. So, we now have a new word when talking about California trust law, issues, modifications and transfers. It’s a word that we might say, but not necessarily hear or understand. The word is “decanting.” The word’s general usage is associated with wine – pouring wine from one bottle into a carafe to remove sediment and allow it to breathe. California now gives new meaning to the word in its recently enacted Uniform Trust Decanting Act. [...]
Continue ReadingStepmother Trust Disputes | A Formula for Conflict
- October 19, 2018 - Abused Beneficiaries, Trust Litigation,
A recent news story on a Bay Area trust dispute caught my attention – not necessarily over the legal details, but because of the general elements common to many cases of estate litigation. It has features we encounter all too frequently in our advocacy for beneficiaries: a successful family business, an ailing patriarch, his children from a prior marriage, and a stepmother. These are the ingredients for potential conflict. Back in 1951, an enterprising young immigrant arrives in San Francisco with his wife and founds a corner bakery that proves a hit with the local neighborhood. As the founder advances in age, he hands his son responsibility for running the business. The family-run bakery becomes a fixture of the community landscape for [...]
Continue ReadingTrust Litigation Contingency Fees | The Balance of Power
- September 25, 2018 - Abused Beneficiaries, Trust Litigation,
What options does a beneficiary have against a bad trustee? Let’s say a trustee is abusing their position and not distributing funds to the beneficiary. Maybe they’ve frozen them out of the trust completely and are using other people’s money to enrich themselves: trips to Hawaii, new cars, the whole nine yards. I’ve seen it before. Let’s start by taking stock of trustee advantages. Trustees usually possess the financial and legal power to defend against trust challenges. This is altogether suitable for trusts that are appropriately formed or amended. But what’s suitable for good conduct doesn’t work in defending bad conduct. Challenges to trusts formed or amended by bad conduct present many hurdles to challengers – [...]
Continue ReadingTrust & Estate Litigation | Making Your Case
- August 24, 2018 - Estate Litigation, Trust Litigation,
You know that something is wrong - something is just not right. How do you talk with a trust litigation attorney about trust issues when you know so little? Maybe you don’t have a copy of the trust. Maybe you were frozen out of communication with your loved one over the last months – maybe years of his life. Maybe you weren’t even told of his death until days – maybe weeks from his passing. How do you make sense of this? Well – let’s start with the truth that I’m just like you. I’m sure that if you’re a doctor, an electrician, a carpenter or computer programmer that I don’t know a thing about your field. I don’t even know what questions to ask about issues in your profession or career. I feel a little embarrassed th[...]
Continue ReadingBlended Family Estate Disputes | Widowed Stepmothers
- August 21, 2018 - Estate Litigation, Trust Litigation,
Why do disinheritance issues often arise in blended families? Given the high incidence of divorce in the United States, at least half of America’s children live with a biological parent and a stepparent. Blended families have many challenges, among them: different parenting styles; conflicting emotions and the natural stresses associated with change. Sibling rivalry may spring up between biological children and stepsiblings. Longevity for Americans over the age of 50 is expected to exceed that of previous generations. There is a female advantage in longevity, and the advantage has widened over the years. It is close to 7 years in the United States. So, it stands to reason that there will be more widowed stepmothers than widowed stepfat[...]
Continue ReadingContingency Fees | CA Trust Litigation Pros & Cons
- August 18, 2018 - Trust Litigation,
Hackard Law is striving to be the leading plaintiffs’ trust and estate contingency fee law firm in California. This is no small task. Our state has terrific lawyers and law firms committed to the ethical and competent representation of vulnerable abused trust and estate beneficiaries. Many of the attorneys regularly prosecute civil elder financial abuse cases against well-funded defendants. Setting specific and ambitious goals - like seeking preeminence in a field - leads to a higher level of performance than easy or general goals. With this in mind and in the spirit of “if you care, you share,” I’ll address some of the stark differences that often exist between unfunded trust and estate challengers and their well-funded opponents.[...]
Continue ReadingThree Leadership Lessons From California Trust Beneficiary Mediation
- August 6, 2018 - Trust Litigation,
Trust beneficiary mediations are emotional. Alzheimer’s, dementia, stepmothers, split families, undue influence and missing estate assets are threads that often run through the fabric of mediated estate and trust disputes. Passions run high. Feelings of betrayal mixed with grief are common to trust challengers and a protective belief of entitlement is common to the challenged. We litigate estate and trust disputes where (1) we think that we can make a significant difference in the outcome and (2) where there is a defendant or respondent who can be made accountable and pay damages for wrongdoing. We often represent clients on a contingency fee basis in California’s major urban areas including Los Angeles, Orange, Santa Clara, San Mate[...]
Continue ReadingAre Safe Deposit Boxes Safe? | Trust Litigation
- July 23, 2018 - Estate Litigation, Trust Litigation,
An unexpectedly large number of people open safe deposit boxes, leave them alone for several years, and forget the box ever existed. According to the Sacramento Bee, the California State Controller’s Office had the contents of more than 138,000 safe deposit boxes under its control in 2017, including more than 75,000 US Savings Bonds worth more than $30 Million. Sometimes banks move, and sometimes box holders move, but the usual way in which boxes get forgotten is when someone dies. While safe deposit boxes can, and usually do, serve a useful purpose of safeguarding valuables, you should know that they aren’t 100% safe. Take, for example, a 2007 case reported on a Consumer Reports blog. A woman’s aunt showed up at a Bank of America [...]
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