Trusts & Estates Case Alert: Another California Appellate District Adopts Anderson v. Hunt Reasoning in Assessing Capacity to Execute a Trust Instrument

The California Court of Appeal for the Sixth Appellate District issued a ruling Tuesday in Lintz v. Lintz, 2014 Cal. App. LEXIS 27 (6th Dist. January 14, 2014) adopting the reasoning of the Second Appellate District regarding the standard for legal capacity to execute a trust instrument (as announced by the Second Appellate District in Anderson v. Hunt, 196 Cal. App. 4th 722 (2d Dist. 2011)).

In Lintz, the Court concluded that the probate court erred by applying the testamentary capacity standard (i.e., Probate Code section 6100.5) to the trusts and trust amendments in question instead of the “sliding-scale contractual standard” outlined in Probate Code sections 810 through 812. In this case, as the Court noted, the trust instruments were “unquestionably more complex than a will or codicil. They addressed community property concerns, provided for income distribution during the life of the surviving spouse, and provided for the creation of multiple trusts, one contemplating estate tax consequences, upon the death of the surviving spouse.”