Supreme Court of California

In proceedings involving an arbitration petition by one co-trustee of a family trust and plaintiff-co-trustee's petition to enforce a no contest clause, appellate court's judgment against defendant-co-trustee is reversed as a challenge to a surviving spouse's mental capacity to transfer trust assets and appoint a successor trustee did not violate the no contest clause in a family trust. A proceeding contesting a settlor's mental competence to exercise rights under a trust does not amount to an attack on the trust itself, unless it seeks to thwart the estate plan established by the trust.

Appellate Information

• Decided 10/29/2009
• Published 10/29/2009

Judges

• CORRIGAN, J.

Court

• Supreme Court of California

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Sandra Waite and David P. Weilbacher, Arroyo Grande, for Defendant and Appellant., George ◆ Cyr, J. Keith George and Anne C. Cyr, Los Osos, for Plaintiff and Respondent.