Trusts and Estates Attorneys

Weintraub Tobin’s exceptionally experienced Trusts and Estates attorneys practice throughout the Firm’s Northern and Southern California offices. Many members of the Group have concentrated their practices on Trusts and Estates for more than 20 years. Our Trusts and Estates attorneys focus on clients’ personal concerns as well as their estate planning, tax, and litigation goals. The top priority is to provide clients with the customized service they need and want.

Weintraub estate planners combine careful analysis and advice on the latest developments in federal and state tax policies in order to meet client objectives and maximize financial benefits in estate and personal tax planning. Our attorneys provide representation on any tax controversies that might arise, including audits and tax court proceedings. Our estate planning attorneys assist clients with retirement planning, business succession planning, asset protection, and entity formation issues.

Weintraub’s Trusts and Estates Group is well-known for its probate, trust, and conservatorship administration services. Our Trusts and Estates attorneys represent beneficiaries, executors, corporate, and individual trustees in all aspects of trust administration from initial funding through Probate Court representation, if needed. Weintraub attorneys counsel beneficiaries, fiduciaries, and creditors through all phases of contested and uncontested probate administration, and if an individual cannot manage his or her affairs, our attorneys can file for and establish conservatorships as well as provide conservators with representation on an ongoing basis.

Our Trusts and Estates Group assists a broad spectrum of fiduciaries, including institutional fiduciaries, family members, and licensed professionals. Our attorneys have decades of experience representing fiduciaries with probate, trust, or conservatorship administration, from the very basic to the highly complex, including tax matters that arise during probate.

When disputes arise involving an estate plan or the administration of a probate or trust, Weintraub has a team of dedicated litigators that assist clients with a full range of trust and probate controversies. Unlike general litigators, our team has deep expertise in the Probate Code and Probate Court procedures.

In addition to representing clients in contested matters, our Trusts and Estates litigators have extensive experience with Alternative Dispute Resolution, including mediation and arbitration. This experience includes serving as mediators and arbitrators as well as representing clients in trust and estate disputes, breach of fiduciary duty claims, contested conservatorships, and elder financial abuse matters.

Gary D. Rothstein Presents For Bank of America Trust Services

On October 18th, Weintraub shareholder Gary D. Rothstein presented Performing Due Diligence in New Trust Intake for Bank of America Trust Services, where he examined various types of provisions in a trust document to be reviewed by prospective trustees and discussed other factors worth considering, such as family/beneficiary factors, and…

Webinar: Recent and Proposed Developments in Conservatorship Law

On March 17, 2022, the Professional Fiduciary Association’s Sacramento Chapter held a meeting titled “Recent and Proposed Developments in Conservatorship Law,” led by Weintraub attorney Mary deLeo. The presentation covered proposed developments in conservatorship law, including updates to the disposition of property, care plans, and sale of personal property.

  • When: Mar 17, 2022
  • Where: Webinar

Webinar: Best Practices for Fiduciaries

On October 28, 2021, the Professional Fiduciary Association’s Sacramento Chapter held a meeting titled “Best Practices for Fiduciaries,” led by Weintraub attorney Mary deLeo. Attorneys Carlena Tapella was a presenter. The presentation covered the best practices for fiduciaries to follow in fulfilling fiduciary obligations as trustees, conservators, and agents. Highlights included…

  • When: Oct 28, 2021
  • Where: Sacramento, CA

Webinar: The Employment Law Issues Trustees, Conservators, and other Fiduciaries Face

On Tuesday, April 28, Weintraub attorney Ryan E. Abernethy is presenting a webinar hosted by the California Lawyers Association. Summary:In fulfilling their fiduciary obligations, trustees, conservators, and other fiduciaries are often thrust into situations where they are required to act as an employer. From managing caretakers, issuing paychecks, and setting schedules…

  • When: Apr 28, 2020
  • Where: Webinar

SCBA Probate & Estate Planning Section Boot Camp

Weintraub attorneys Carlena Tapella and Kelly Dankbar will be speaking on the topic of “Recovery of Attorneys’ Fees” at the 2019 Probate Litigation Boot Camp sponsored by the Sacramento County Bar Association. Event: 2019 Probate Litigation Boot CampWhen: Tuesday, September 17, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PMWhere: Sacramento County Bar Association,…

  • When: Sep 17, 2019

Brendan Begley Presents at Employment Litigation 2019

Brendan Begley will be speaking at The Rutter Group and the California Judges Association’s Employment Litigation 2019: Facing Workplace Realities in Divisive Times on Saturday, February 23, 2019 at Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City. Highlights include Sexual Harassment and Retaliation, Wage and Hour, PAGA, New California Rules of Professional Conduct (eff.…

  • When: Feb 23, 2019

The Twenty-Third Annual Estate & Gift Tax Conference

Location: Julia Morgan Ballroom at the Merchants Exchange465 California StreetSan Francisco, CA  94104 Topics include: Ethics:  To Tweet or Not? Ethics in Social MediaAnnual Estate and Gift Tax Conference The speaker will focus on the ethical issues facing practitioners with so many on-line tools. She will address the issues when using…

  • When: Feb 27, 2015

Managing Risk: How To Protect Yourself In A Post-Giraldin World

A Seminar for Fiduciaries Summary of ProgramJoin the attorneys from Weintraub Tobin’s Trusts and Estates Group as they discuss the important legal and practical implications for trustees arising from the recent California Supreme Court decision in the Estate of Giraldin. Program Highlights You thought you knew to whom your fiduciary…

  • When:

WT Wins: Daniel C. Kim Prevails for Trustee Client

Weintraub shareholder Daniel C. Kim prevailed in a 2-day trial before the Yolo County Superior Court relating to his trustee-client’s petition to sell trust property. The Respondent, one of the trust settlors’ five children, refused to vacate the 54-acre mixed-use property at issue, demanding that the trustee agree to a…

Weintraub Tobin Welcomes Eric W. Cha

Weintraub Tobin is pleased to welcome Eric W. Cha as an associate in the Firm’s Trusts & Estates practice group, where his practice focuses on estate planning, trust administration, and probate matters. 

Weintraub Tobin Welcomes Evan D. Winet

Weintraub Tobin is pleased to welcome Evan D. Winet as Of Counsel in the Firm’s Trusts & Estates practice group, where he represents beneficiaries and fiduciaries in all aspects of trusts and estates litigation, including trust and will contests, actions involving recovery of property related to a trust or estate,…

Where Agreements Won’t Work – A Word to the Wise Regarding Strict Wage and Hour Liability and Related Claims

This article was first published in Volume 29, Issue 2, 2023 of the California Trusts and Estates Quarterly, reprinted by permission. I.      SYNOPSIS Ed was a vibrant and healthy 85-year-old. One day, he decided to sign an advance healthcare directive providing that if his physical condition ever declined, he wished…

Don’t Skimp on The Facts – Failure of Fiduciaries to Make Full Disclosure of Matters Set Forth in an Accounting May be Considered Fraud

In the recently published case of Hudson v. Foster, 2021 Cal.App. LEXIS 737, the Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District, Division Five, determined that a former conservatee who discovered that certain transactions in his conservator’s previously approved accounting were falsely reported, was under no obligation to comb through…

Bringing Down the Hammer – California Appellate Court Upholds $1,000 Per Day Sanction For Failure To Timely File Accounting

As trusts and estates litigation counsel, we often have matters where a fiduciary, either as a trustee, conservator, personal representative, or agent under a power of attorney, fails to provide financial information when properly requested, or to provide an accounting if one is required under law.  The result is that…