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Conservatorship of Zsa Zsa Gabor

Update to a post from 2012 concerning the Conservatorship of Zsa Zsa Gabor. Previously, Gabor’s only child, 64-year-old Constance Francesca Hilton, asked a California court to establish a conservatorship to mange her mother’s care and protect her assets. Zsa Zsa Gabor’s daughter filed a conservatorship petition to gain control over her mother’s assets after she …

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Lunch with The Probate Judges ~ Trust & Estates Section

Firm partner, Yasha Bronshteyn was in attendance at The Beverly Hills Bar Association sponsored Lunch with the Probate Judges on March 19, 2013, at Lawry’s in Beverly Hills. Supervising Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff, Judge Reva G. Goetz, Judge Michael I. Levanas, and Judge Roy Paul were part of the distinguished panel and addressed questions and …

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Report Predicts Alzheimer’s, Other Dementia to Double by 2050

Dementia, whether spurred by Alzheimer’s disease or other causes, is becoming an ever-increasing issue. With studies and forecasts universally predicting a continued dramatic rise in the occurrence of dementia in the decades ahead, the number of families touched by dementia will similarly grow, placing an increasing spotlight on the need for proper estate planning to …

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California Court Rules Against Conservator in Defamation Lawsuit

A California woman serving as a conservator lost her defamation lawsuit against a Sacramento television station as an appeals court concluded that she could not prove that the reports aired the report with knowledge that their information was false, or at least reckless disregard for its falsity. In reaching it conclusion, the court in Young …

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Contingent Beneficiaries Can Pursue Trustee for Squandering Trust’s Assets, High Court Says

A family’s trust dispute got new life when the California Supreme Court reversed an an appellate court ruling, and determined that a group of contingent beneficiaries did, as a matter of law, have standing to sue the trustee of a family trust for breaching his duties by making a large, risky investment in a company …

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Dealing with No Contest Clauses in California Wills, Trusts

A “no contest” clause is an item inserted into many wills and/or trusts to reduce the likelihood that a beneficiary will mount a court challenge to the document. The California legislature modified the statute governing no contest clauses in recent years, attempting to simply the law regarding these provisions. In the process, however, the state’s …

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Children of Ex-wife Entitled to Take in Accordance with Man’s Will, Trust, Court Rules

A California appellate court upheld the right of the children of a man’s ex-wife to receive the distributions promised to them in the man’s will and trust. In Estate of Lira, the court rejected a daughter’s argument that her father’s ex-wife’s children were disqualified from inheriting, ruling that the ex-wife’s family was related to the …

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High Court to Review Case Awarding Insurance Proceeds to Ex-wife

A now-deceased man’s estate planning oversight yielded a dispute that will now be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. The case of Hillman v. Maretta pits the man’s ex-wife, whom he named, and never replaced, as the death beneficiary on a life insurance policy, and the man’s current wife, who claimed that the ex-wife lost …

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California Couple’s Marriage License Did Not Automatically Wipe Out Terms of Domestic Partnership Agreement

A surviving spouse argued, to no avail, that his marriage to his registered domestic partner served as an automatic invalidation of the couple’s domestic partnership agreement regarding property and assets. In Konou v. Wilson, the California Court of Appeal ruled that the agreement served a similar function to a pre-nuptial agreement, and the couple’s marriage …

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Anna Nicole Smith’s Studio City Home Sells, Proceeds to Go to Daughter

A judge recently approved the sale of the home of former Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith. The proceeds from the sale will go to the late model’s six-year-old daughter, Dannielynn. Many may remember Anna Nicole Smith for her marriage to the late J. Howard Marshall, an oil industry magnate. According to a local news article, …

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