Notable Results

2023-2025: UPDATE COMING SOON!
More results will be added shortly as matters conclude; please check back soon.

2023-, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Successfully opposed efforts by residual trust beneficiaries to assert greater [wrongful] control over trust funds during current beneficiary’s lifetime, facilitating global settlement on behalf of the co-trustees for the current beneficiary’s sole benefit and protection (ongoing administration consistent with the settlement continues)

2023, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Successfully defended successor trustee against vindictive, unfounded claims levied by disgruntled [unreasonable] beneficiaries

2022-, Orange County Superior Court
Ongoing representation of successor co-trustee in highly contested trust administration process, ensuring proper management (and, eventually, distribution) of multimillion-dollar trust estate despite intense conflict between sibling beneficiaries and related litigation

2022-24, Los Angeles County (no action filed)
Directed successor trustee through navigation of contentious trust administration/distribution minefield, preemptively negotiating formal settlement agreements with various beneficiaries to avoid all threatened litigation and streamline the trust’s full and final distribution.

2022-23, Los Angeles County (no action filed)
Leveraged exceptionally favorable settlement for trust beneficiary engaged in difficult dispute with another beneficiary (his sister), orchestrating administration and distribution of their parents’ trust pursuant to an earlier version rather than permitting the sister to utilize the challenged amendment(s) she had procured for her undue benefit

2022-23, Los Angeles County (no action filed)
Circumvented contest of decedent’s living trust, working proactively with the successor trustee to definitively deter the threatened challenge(s) without litigation and administer/distribute the trust’s assets exclusively pursuant to the trustor’s stated intentions

2021-23, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Obtained hard fought seven-figure settlement for decedent’s children, thwarting their mother’s efforts to strip them from inheriting their father’s separate property assets

2021-23, San Luis Obispo County Superior Court
Pursued accounting and recovery of assets wrongfully diverted by successor trustee of decedent’s trust

2021-23, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Accomplished court-ordered dismissal of petition through which interlopers (purportedly acting on behalf of surviving trustor, but in reality just asserting pervasive undue influence over him) wrongfully sought control of trusteeship; supervision and management of the trustor’s multimillion dollar trust estate accordingly remained within the family, safe from the wrongdoers’ further interference

2021-22, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Guided pair of siblings through incredibly contentious battle with their other siblings over management of their ailing father’s care and finances (after the ‘rogue’ siblings had begun unduly influencing and taking advantage of him), eventually leading to court appointment of an independent fiduciary for his protection

2021, Los Angeles County and San Diego County (no action filed)
Achieved extremely favorable settlement for clients in dispute regarding their deceased father’s estate/trust (without having to initiate any of the specifically threatened litigation) – directing distribution of millions to the decedent’s intended beneficiaries rather than to his second wife, who had been misappropriating her vulnerable husband’s separate property assets when he suffered from diminished capacity

2021, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Successfully defended against claims of financial elder abuse, greatly reducing the amount of our client’s exposure and ultimate liability in inter-sibling dispute

2020, Los Angeles County (no action filed)
Implemented plan for client to take control over her ailing, vulnerable sister’s affairs, defeating efforts by another relative to assert wrongful claims to the trusteeship (and to her trust’s assets), and ensuring the Trust’s administration and distribution was carried out in the manner intended

2020-, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Secured emergency conservatorship for protection of elderly woman who had been living in unsafe conditions (and begun falling victim to various scams and theft), installing a professional fiduciary to manage her affairs and welfare

2020-24, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Successfully defended trustee against removal and surcharge petition (and thwarted related frivolous claims interfering with the Trust’s orderly administration)

2020-22, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Accomplished restoration of daughter’s inheritance from mother’s estate (trust), correcting the wrongful disinheritance which had occurred when one of the mother’s other children had unduly influenced and manipulated her to create an otherwise unintended and unwanted amendment to her living trust

2020-22, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Achieved favorable settlement for children of decedent whose second husband was asserting full ownership over the family residence (half of which had been intended for distribution to decedent’s children, despite record title being held by the couple in joint tenancy)

2020-21, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Protected 95-year-old mother from ongoing financial abuse at the hands of her daughter, ultimately helping the mother’s two sons (and co-trustees of her living trust) achieve an equalized distribution of her assets following her passing

2019-23, Ventura County Superior Court
Extricated elderly mother from ongoing, relentless manipulation and undue influence at the hands of her son(s), facilitating long term settlement plan for the family to allow for ongoing interaction/relations without the threat of the mother suffering further stress or influence concerning financial matters (and avoiding the loss of millions of dollars intended for her care and wellbeing)

2019, San Bernardino County (no action filed)
Facilitated settlement of mother's financial elder abuse claims against her son, requiring son to return the hundreds of thousands of dollars he’d misappropriated from his mother through undue influence and wrongful use of her bank accounts, credit cards, and home equity (line of credit)

2019, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Pursued litigation on behalf of elderly woman whose brother purportedly created new living trust leaving their family home to his girlfriend, rather than to his sister as always had been intended and promised; trust contest based on undue influence (and financial elder abuse) ultimately resulted in extremely favorable negotiated resolution for sister, through which the property was sold and she received the vast majority of the $1.5 million dollar proceeds

2019, San Luis Obispo County and Los Angeles County Superior Court
Successfully intervened on behalf of elderly woman to oppose unwarranted, retaliatory temporary conservatorship sought by granddaughter in response to having been sued for financial elder abuse; later accomplished global negotiated resolution through which proposed conservatee’s disputed estate plan was ‘locked in’ as she intended (all but eliminating the distribution to granddaughter who previously had procured a trust which would have left her everything), and her affairs were set to be managed by a private professional fiduciary – finally eliminating the ongoing intrafamily battles regarding control of her care and multimillion-dollar estate

2019, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Orchestrated substantial (mid-six figures) negotiated settlement of civil suit for financial elder abuse, obtaining some ‘justice’ for surviving children of elderly man whose life savings had been funneled into a fraudulent “investment” by his longtime (and supposedly trusted) financial advisor

2018-19, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Despite strenuous opposition and claims for offsets, successfully compelled a trustee who had withheld distribution of his deceased brother’s share of their predeceased mother’s trust to provide an accounting – and then to make a full distribution of his deceased brother’s intended inheritance to the deceased brother’s son, rather than continuing to retain that share of the trust (or even a portion of it) for himself and his other surviving brother

2017-19, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Thwarted deceptive and abusive “caregiver” who had been neglecting the care of the elderly woman who hired her – even as she brazenly stole from the elder’s bank account and used undue influence to secure a position as beneficiary of her multimillion-dollar estate; the “caregiver” was fired, ousted as beneficiary, and received nothing

2017-19, Los Angeles County (no action filed)
Intervened on behalf of concerned son who discovered his brother was abusing his authority under their mother’s power of attorney (misappropriating their mother’s assets as she developed dementia); efforts led to concerned son wresting complete control of the mother’s care and finances from his brother, along with implementation of appropriate safeguards ensuring her protection and well being

2017-19, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Overcame claims levied by multiple purported beneficiaries trying to get a share of decedent’s approx. $8 million dollar trust and estate – helping the trustee accomplish decedent’s true intentions outlined in his unsigned final estate plan, and ensuring the bulk of decedent’s assets were distributed to his surviving spouse and [omitted] child rather than pursuant to the terms of his ‘stale’ trust

2018, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Successfully defended action for financial elder abuse, negotiating extremely favorable outcome at mediation (avoiding any out-of-pocket liability)

2018, Sacramento County Superior Court
Retained by trustee/conservator as additional, expert counsel to help address issues of dependent adult financial abuse potentially impairing the trustee’s disabled brother’s multimillion-dollar interest in ongoing trust proceedings; intervention led to appropriate negotiated resolution of all outstanding matters

2018, Santa Barbara County (no action filed)
Challenged overbroad power of attorney obtained surreptitiously – and through undue influence – by principal’s son when she was suffering from dementia, preventing likely misappropriation of assets (financial elder abuse) and compelling accounting(s) and full transparency to the elder’s family regarding all her financial matters going forward

2018, Los Angeles County (no action filed)
Leveraged recovery of title to an elderly man’s home for him, after it wrongfully was taken from him by the man’s caregiver and the caregiver’s son through the caregiver’s assertion of undue influence (financial elder abuse)

2018, Los Angeles County (no action filed)
Facilitated $1.1 million settlement for minor child omitted from his deceased father’s will and trust

2017-18, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Obtained emergency conservatorship on behalf of elderly woman whose grandson had stolen close to $1,000,000 from her; went on to represent the conservator in an action against the grandson/thief that resulted in a court judgment against him for nearly $3,000,000 – including an award of statutory double damages and attorneys’ fees pursuant to Probate Code § 859

2017-18, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Negotiated successful (total) defense of trust contest on behalf of trustee – requiring that all assets be distributed expressly pursuant to the trust’s terms, despite certain disgruntled heirs’ pending claims and objections

2017-18, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Obtained substantial (several hundred thousand dollar) settlement of mother’s civil action for financial elder abuse against her own daughter and son-in-law, after they took advantage of her and misappropriated her assets

2017-18, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Obtained total dismissal of a baseless civil action for elder abuse

2016-18, Siskiyou and Los Angeles Counties (no action filed)
Represented successor trustee regarding multiple disputed matters at issue when she took over for her father as predecessor trustee (after he began suffering from dementia), intervening to eliminate the apparent financial elder abuse being perpetrated on her father by his second wife, and ensuring all assets properly were reserved for his continued care (and ultimately distributed to his intended beneficiaries)

2010-2018, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Successfully protected interests of trust beneficiary and designated [co]trustee regarding multiple disputed matters related to the trustor’s domestic and international properties and business affairs, while also ultimately saving the client hundreds of thousands of dollars through concentrated litigation avoidance efforts during the course of the trust’s required eight-year administration; trust assets valued in excess of $10 million 

2017-, Los Angeles County (no action filed)
Ongoing representation of beneficiary to maximize and perfect her interests in ex-husband’s estate, including supervision of long-term administration by ‘suspect’ fiduciary (ensuring beneficiary’s interests are protected)

2017-, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Ongoing representation of court-appointed fiduciary concerning all aspects of a court-approved trust’s (and a related conservatorship’s) ongoing administration

2016-17, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Successfully challenged a wrongfully procured power of attorney, avoiding substantial misappropriation of assets from (i.e., financial elder abuse of) the principal by her nephew

2016, Los Angeles County (no action filed)
Leveraged successful resolution of looming inter-sibling dispute regarding the net distributable shares to which the siblings were entitled from their deceased parents’ trust, avoiding litigation while compelling one sibling to concede his required offset/debt to his other siblings based on substantial prior loans received from their parents

2016, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Negotiated successful defense of will contest for decedent’s surviving spouse, severely limiting distribution to decedent’s surviving children who had challenged the surviving spouse’s interest in the estate

2016, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Achieved total invalidation of trust amendment procured through undue influence (negotiated resolution of trust contest within weeks of filing petition, accomplishing early result equivalent to a full victory at trial)

2016, Los Angeles County (no action filed)
Perfected trust/estate beneficiary’s interest in his grandmother’s assets (taking through his deceased mother’s share), recovering substantial assets wrongfully claimed and retained by deceased mother’s sibling; recovered assets (including lifetime interest in family business) worth millions

2015-16, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Achieved successful settlement of trust (amendment) contest for trustors’ granddaughters, after they essentially had been ‘cut out’ of their grandparents’ trust through undue influence asserted by their deceased uncle’s wife

2015-16, Riverside County Superior Court
Obtained emergency conservatorship to protect elderly woman from ongoing financial abuse at the hands of her daughter, simultaneously preserving and protecting the interests (and eventual inheritance) of the family of the conservatee’s deceased spouse

2015, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Confirmed client’s status as trustee and sole beneficiary of lifelong friend’s trust (assets valued at more than $1 million), successfully opposing efforts of the trustor’s estranged children to contest the estate plan

2015, Riverside County Superior Court
Through mediated settlement of trust contest and financial elder abuse action, ratified client’s status as trustee and sole beneficiary of non-relative’s restated trust (assets valued at more than $1 million)

2015, Los Angeles County (no action filed)
Negotiated highly favorable settlement of trust dispute between co-trustee siblings, ensuring client co-trustee/sibling ultimately received maximum value from the trust while also resolving the parties’ competing claims of mismanagement and misappropriation of trust assets

2013-15, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Leveraged settlement in action against elderly man’s neighbor who had misappropriated substantial assets from him through abuse of a power of attorney

2013-15, Orange County Superior Court
Investigated and protected elderly woman’s rights and interests as sole current principal and income beneficiary of trust being mismanaged by professional fiduciary

2010-15, Los Angeles and Ventura Counties
Ongoing representation of [co]trustee regarding multiple disputed matters; multistate trust assets valued in excess of $25 million

2014, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Successfully opposed wrongful attempt by son to obtain an unnecessary and inappropriate conservatorship over his mother

2014, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Recovered substantial assets misappropriated from mother through son’s undue influence (financial elder abuse), restoring estate assets so mother’s other children and step-children could receive their intended inheritance

2014, Orange County Superior Court
Contested deathbed amendment to trust wrongfully benefiting caregiver girlfriend (purported sixth wife) in favor of incapacitated trustor’s intended beneficiaries

2014, San Diego County Superior Court
Initiated recovery of trust property from client’s sibling who unduly influenced father to give her substantial trust assets prior to his death (financial elder abuse), wrongfully reducing client’s intended inheritance

2013-14, Los Angeles County (no action filed)
Enforced client’s right to act as sole successor trustee of his mother’s and step-father’s trust (over objections of his step-siblings), and negotiated settlement through which trust assets were reallocated between subtrusts to ensure ultimate distributions among the step-siblings would be accurate and equitable

2013-14, Santa Barbara County (no action filed)
Leveraged settlement to unwind complicated real property development transaction(s) through which unsuspecting elderly man had been swindled into forfeiting his rights / interest in valuable Santa Barbara bluff property

2013-14, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Intervened on behalf of previously-incapacitated man whose children refused to acknowledge his restored capacity (following recovery from prior health troubles), eliminating their self-serving stranglehold on his affairs and confirming his status and authority as sole trustee of his living trust

2013-14, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Ousted ‘bad son’ trustee who had been refusing to relent control of father’s multimillion-dollar trust / assets; also negotiated a favorable settlement with the son, permanently extinguishing his future interest(s) in the Trust’s assets

2013, San Diego County (no action filed)
Thwarted threatened conservatorship sought by two sons of elderly woman, preventing their calculated effort to wrest control of her finances at time when she still was fully capable of managing her own affairs

2013, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Negotiated and ‘locked in’ multimillion-dollar inheritance for relatives of elderly woman whose estate wrongfully had been earmarked (at the direction of her conservator) for distribution solely to her conservator’s chosen charities

2013, Los Angeles County (no action filed)
Negotiated favorable resolution of intra-sibling trust dispute, confirming client sibling’s position as sole successor trustee (concurrent with removal of non-client sibling as fiduciary), and leveraging a forced reduction of ‘bad’ sibling’s beneficial share of trust to compensate for his misappropriation of trust assets.

2012-13, Riverside County Superior Court
Assisted (through contested conservatorship proceedings) with the protection of an elderly woman who had begun to have substantial assets – including her home – pilfered from her by her new ‘boyfriend.’

2012, Orange County Superior Court
Successfully freed up millions in Trust property for elderly trustors, thwarting their son’s wrongful (fraudulent) efforts to usurp control and ownership of their home and other Trust assets.

2011, Santa Cruz County Superior Court
Recovered substantial inheritance for heir wrongfully omitted from grandmother’s estate plan (as a result of another relative’s undue influence)

2011, San Bernardino County (no action filed)
Negotiated recovery of assets wrongfully diverted from decedent’s estate by one of her two children

2011, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Successfully defeated efforts of decedent’s estranged children to obtain his assets, restoring inheritance to decedent’s other family members as his intended beneficiaries

2010-, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Ongoing representation of trustee / profesional fiduciary; trust assets valued in excess of $10 million

2010-11, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Representation of trustee of high-profile (celebrity) trust

2010-11, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Representation of trustee regarding multiple disputed matters; trust assets valued in excess of $25 million

2010, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Successful ‘ousting’ of elderly woman’s recalcitrant property manager (and purported trustee) on behalf of professional fiduciary, intervening to obtain appropriate control for protection of more than $10 million in assets

2010, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Restored inheritances for multiple trust beneficiaries wrongfully ‘cut out’ of their aunt’s estate plan as a result of another relative’s undue influence

2010, San Francisco County Superior Court
Negotiated settlement of ongoing dispute between co-trustees / beneficiaries (siblings), including resolution of all concerns regarding allocations/values of their respective inheritances

2009, Los Angeles County Superior Court
‘Broke’ purportedly irrevocable trust wrongfully procured by elderly man’s caregiver and “girlfriend” (40 years his junior!), leveraging settlement after his death to restore virtually the entire inheritance of his rightful beneficiaries

2009, Ventura County Superior Court
Utilized pending conservatorship proceedings to effectively disinherit conservatee’s daughter (via settlement of related litigation), ‘balancing out’ the substantial assets previously obtained by that daughter through her undue influence over her mother

2009, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Settlement obtained to restore 92 year old woman’s ownership of her home, after her neighbor unduly influenced her to transfer title to him in exchange for a cash payment worth only a fraction of the home’s value

2009, Ventura County Superior Court
Very favorable settlement obtained for multiple beneficiaries of decedent’s trust, holding designated trustee fully accountable for his wrongful conduct prior to and following trustor’s death

2008, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Negotiated and ‘locked in’ multimillion-dollar inheritances for two trust beneficiaries, after successfully intervening to curtail the ongoing undue influence of an elderly woman by her “friend”

2008, Sonoma County Superior Court
Real property recovered for decedent’s estate, after forcing rescission of wrongful ‘sale’ procured through undue influence during last several years of decedent’s life

2008, Santa Barbara County Superior Court
Forced recovery of all ‘missing’ trust assets (several hundred thousand dollars) wrongfully diverted by elderly woman’s son for his own benefit

2008, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Restoration of inheritance secured for several out-of-state trust beneficiaries previously ‘cut out’ of their cousin’s estate plan through wrongdoer’s ongoing undue influence

2007, Ventura County Superior Court
$3,000,000.00 settlement – including significant punitive damages component – obtained in wrongful death and elder abuse action against residential care facility (after ‘piercing the corporate veil’ to force additional accountability by the truly culpable parties beyond the $2.25 million judgment already obtained)

2007, Los Angeles County Superior Court
$350,000.00 inheritance restored to rightful beneficiary following successful trial of trust contest invalidating wrongfully procured trust amendment benefitting caregiver (Probate Code § 21350 et seq.)

2007, Siskiyou County Superior Court
Conclusion of six-year saga resulting in the return to a family trust of deceased parents’ multimillion-dollar cattle ranch properties wrongfully taken by ‘black sheep’ son and subsequent proper distribution of trust properties

2007, Los Angeles County Superior Court
Exceptionably favorable settlement obtained on behalf of wrongly accused trustee/beneficiary in trust contest

2007, Los Angeles County Superior Court
$450,000.00 settlement obtained for trust beneficiary wrongfully ‘cut out’ of her uncle’s estate plan due to the undue influence of the uncle’s paid caregiver, now his new wife

2006, Riverside County Superior Court
Successful invalidation of trust amendment requiring repayment of more than $1,000,000.00 to decedent’s trust estate (including return of substantial joint tenancy assets), for ultimate distribution to decedent’s original (i.e., pre-amendment) beneficiaries

2006, Santa Barbara County Superior Court
Approx. $400,000.00 settlement obtained on eve of trial in financial elder abuse lawsuit, representing repayment of nearly double the amount defendant was accused of wrongfully taking from his elderly relatives

2006, Boca Raton, FL (NASD Arbitration)
Successful recovery of elder’s losses resulting from financial advisor’s mismanagement of brokerage accounts

2005, San Joaquin County Superior Court
Approx. $750,000.00 settlement obtained during trial of trust contest, amounting to wrongful beneficiary essentially relinquishing her entire purported inheritance

2005, Los Angeles County Superior Court
$500,000.00 settlement obtained in trust and will contest alleging decedent’s purported living trust and last will (which left her estate to a charitable beneficiary, rather than to her three children) arose solely as a product of her incapacitating delusions

2005, Los Angeles (NASD Arbitration)
Successful recovery of elder’s substantial losses resulting from improperly placed investments

2005, Riverside County Superior Court
Successful recovery of elder’s multimillion-dollar ‘investment’ in annuities, wrongfully-procured by her insurance agent