Orange County Trust and Estate Litigation

In brief: Hackard Law represents beneficiaries and families in Orange County trust contests, trustee disputes, and elder financial abuse cases. These cases are heard at the Costa Mesa Justice Complex. Michael Hackard has practiced California trust and estate litigation for fifty years, and the firm works on contingency: no fee and no costs if there is no recovery, unless your written agreement provides otherwise.

By Michael Hackard, California trust and estate litigation attorney. Last reviewed October 26, 2026. Updated November 3, 2026.

A trust is amended in the last months of a life. A co-op membership at a retirement community changes hands. A trustee stops returning calls. In Orange County these disputes are heard at the Costa Mesa Justice Complex, and many involve older owners: in Laguna Woods, more than four in five residents are 65 or older.

Michael Hackard has litigated California trust, estate, and elder financial abuse cases for fifty years. Hackard Law represents beneficiaries and families on a contingency basis. If there is no recovery, you owe no fee and no costs, unless your written agreement provides otherwise.

Call the Sage: (916) 313-3030

What families notice first

Most cases begin with one detail that does not fit. A daughter finds an amendment dated three weeks before her mother died. A son learns the house was quietly deeded during a hospital stay. A trustee who used to send statements sends nothing.

These are patterns, and they repeat:

• The deathbed signing. New documents executed during a final illness, often with a new lawyer and no family present.
• Isolation. Calls go unreturned. Visits are discouraged. One person controls access to the parent.
• Pre-death estate stripping. Accounts retitled, beneficiaries changed, property transferred before death, so that the trust holds little when it finally speaks.
• The silent trustee. No notification, no accounting, no answers.

Noticing the pattern early matters. California deadlines in this area are short, and some of them run from the day a notice arrives in the mail.

How a trust dispute moves through Orange County Superior Court

Since June 30, 2025, Orange County probate matters are heard at the Costa Mesa Justice Complex, 3390 Harbor Boulevard, Costa Mesa, California 92626. The probate clerk’s office is in the same building.

1. The petition. Trust disputes are filed as petitions under Probate Code § 17200. Notice generally must be given to interested persons at least 30 days before the hearing (Probate Code § 17203).
2. Probate notes. The court posts probate notes online before hearings and updates them to show matters it has pre-approved (Local Rule 601.06). Responses to the notes must be filed; they cannot be handled by email.
3. Objections. A party who objects orally may get a continuance to file written objections. If no written objection is on file by the continued date, the matter may be recommended for approval (Local Rule 601.08).
4. Settlement. Contested matters move through trial-setting and mandatory settlement conferences, and the court offers a voluntary Probate Mediation Program for estates and trusts.
5. Trial. All trial counsel and parties must attend the master calendar trial date, and a trial-setting statement is due five court days before it (Local Rule 601.24).
6. Remote appearances. Remote appearances are permitted and encouraged for non-evidentiary probate hearings and elder abuse proceedings (Local Rule 601.02).

Venue is not automatic. A trust dispute belongs in the county where the trust is principally administered (Probate Code § 17005), which is not always the county where the parent lived. A trustee who accepts the trusteeship of a California trust submits to the jurisdiction of California courts, even after moving away (Probate Code § 17003).

For current hearing requirements, check the Orange County Superior Court probate notes and procedures.

Cases we handle in Orange County

Trust contests. Challenges to trusts and amendments for lack of capacity (Probate Code §§ 810–812, 6100.5), undue influence, fraud, or duress. Gifts to a care custodian or to the person who drafted the document may be presumed invalid (Probate Code § 21380).

Trustee removal and surcharge. A trustee may be removed for breach of trust, unfitness, failure or refusal to act, excessive compensation, or other good cause (Probate Code § 15642). A trustee who breaches the trust can be ordered to restore what was lost (Probate Code § 16420).

Accountings. Trustees must keep beneficiaries reasonably informed and account (Probate Code §§ 16060–16062). When they do not, the court can compel it (Probate Code § 17200(b)(7)).

Recovering property. A petition under Probate Code § 850 reaches property wrongfully held by another, including real estate. A person who took property in bad faith is liable for twice its value (Probate Code § 859).

Elder financial abuse. Taking, hiding, or keeping the property of a person 65 or older for a wrongful use, or by undue influence, is financial abuse (Welfare & Institutions Code §§ 15610.27, 15610.30). When it is proven, the court must award attorney’s fees and costs (Welfare & Institutions Code § 15657.5).

When the family advisor serves as trustee

In Orange County, a long-time financial advisor or accountant may personally serve as trustee of a family’s trust. That individual takes on the duties of a trustee, including loyalty, impartiality, and accounting. Beneficiaries can challenge self-dealing, seek accountings, and ask the court to remove a trustee who breaches those duties.

Hackard Law handles disputes involving individual advisors or accountants who personally serve as trustees. The firm does not handle claims against banks, brokerages, or corporate trustees.

Retirement communities, co-ops, and mobilehomes

Many older Orange County residents own homes that do not pass like a house. In a stock cooperative, such as many homes at Laguna Woods Village and Leisure World Seal Beach, the owner holds shares or a membership in a housing corporation (Civil Code § 4190). A mobilehome in a park is usually titled with the state, and the heirs’ right to sell it in place depends on keeping the space rent current (Civil Code § 798.78).

Orange County’s probate rules allow a co-op to be sold as personal property or a security, and a mobilehome as depreciating property, with an appraisal (Local Rule 606.04). Isolation and undue influence can place residents of these communities at risk.

The man who wrote the book reads the file

Michael Hackard is the author of six books on elder vulnerability and family protection, including Stolen Inheritance and Alzheimer’s, Widowed Stepmothers & Estate Crimes. He has testified before the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Ways and Means. He has been AV Preeminent rated by Martindale-Hubbell for more than forty years and has received Super Lawyers recognition.

The patterns on this page come from those books, and from fifty years of files.

“After thousands of cases, I see the patterns others miss.”

How fees work

Hackard Law represents families on a contingency basis. The fee is a percentage of the recovery, stated in a written agreement before any work begins.

The firm advances the costs of the case: filing fees, experts, depositions, and records. Those costs are repaid from the recovery before the fee is calculated. If there is no recovery, you owe no fee and no costs, unless your written agreement provides otherwise.

In elder financial abuse cases, the law may also require the wrongdoer to pay attorney’s fees.