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’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.
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.
On October 22, Weintraub shareholder Gary D. Rothstein will give a presentation on “Performing Due Diligence in New Trust Intake” to California and Nevada members of the Private Wealth Management (PWM) team of a national bank. The presentation aims to help to educate fiduciaries and financial advisors on important steps that…
On May 21, 2024, Jeanne Vance and Anders Bostrom presented an MCLE webinar with the Probate and Estate Planning Law Section of the Sacramento County Bar Association (SCBA) on, “The Corporate Transparency Act: Overview and Recent Developments.” The presentation offered an overview of the Corporate Transparency Act, with specific regard…
Weintraub Tobin attorneys Gary Rothstein, Kelly Dankbar, and Evan Winet presented at the 29th Annual PFAC Educational Conference in San Diego, CA. The conference, which was held May 15-18, 2024, provided comprehensive education for professional fiduciaries. The presentation from Weintraub’s Trusts & Estates Group, titled “Maintaining Balance on A High…
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…
From May 4-7, 2022, the Professional Fiduciary Association of California (PFAC) hosted its 27th Annual Educational Conference at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA. Weintraub Trusts & Estates attorneys Edward J. Corey, Jr., Mary deLeo, Daniel C. Kim, and Gary D. Rothstein presented on the topic of Litigation and the…
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.
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…
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…
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,…
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.…
Summary of Program As a fiduciary, you may think that all of your communications with your attorney are confidential. While communications between an attorney and his or her client are generally protected by the attorney-client privilege, in the trustee context, it is the office of the trustee, not the individual…
Weintraub Tobin is pleased to be named in multiple practice areas and metropolitan areas in the 2025 edition of Best Law Firms®, including 10 Tier 1 rankings. The Firm maintained rankings in all Tier 1 categories from last year, and advanced two categories from Tier 2 to Tier 1 in…
Weintraub Tobin Trusts & Estates litigators Daniel Kim, Lily Harris, and Madeline Giles successfully defended against a request for a three-year elder abuse restraining order brought against their client. In late May of this year, their client was served with a temporary elder abuse restraining order by her cohabitant. Based on the temporary restraining order,…
Weintraub Tobin is pleased to announce that 41 of its attorneys have been recognized in the 2025 editions of The Best Lawyers in America® and Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America. 32 Weintraub attorneys are included in the 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America, of which six…
On Thursday, August 1, 2024, the Weintraub Tobin Trusts and Estates litigation team won on a motion in Marin County to have a pro se party declared a vexatious litigant. A victory against serial litigators, the order puts the party on a list maintained by the California courts, and requires…
Weintraub Tobin is pleased to announce that shareholder Kay U. Brooks has been selected to the Board of Trustees for the Sutter Roseville Medical Center Foundation. The Sutter Roseville Medical Center Foundation is a separately incorporated, community-benefit nonprofit organization. As a trustee, Kay will serve on the SRMCF Board alongside…
On May 21, 2024, Jeanne Vance and Anders Bostrom presented an MCLE webinar with the Probate and Estate Planning Law Section of the Sacramento County Bar Association (SCBA) on, “The Corporate Transparency Act: Overview and Recent Developments.” The presentation offered an overview of the Corporate Transparency Act, with specific regard…
Weintraub Tobin is pleased to welcome Lily M. Harris as a Shareholder to the Firm’s Trusts & Estates practice. An experienced litigator who represents clients in a broad range of matters with a primary focus on trust and estate litigation, Lily helps professional fiduciaries, personal representatives, guardians, conservators, heirs, trustees,…
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 is pleased to welcome Madeline C. Giles as an associate in the Firm’s Trusts & Estates practice group. Previously, she worked as a Summer Associate and Law Clerk at the Firm.
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 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,…
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…
An essential aspect of estate planning is the Trustee, who will be tasked to carry out wishes. This is such an important role that potential Trustees are usually asked if they would be willing to take on the responsibility before being named in a Trust. Occasionally, however, Trustees are surprised…
On September 30, 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom signed California AB 1194 amending numerous statutes pertaining to conservatorships. The following are highlights: Internet Posting of Fees of Licensed Professional Fiduciary: On or before January 1, 2023, an individual licensed as a professional fiduciary (LPF) by the State of California, and who…
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…
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…
Britney Spears says so. After thirteen years of conservatorship, on June 23, 2021, Britney appeared remotely at her conservatorship hearing and relayed her emotional plea to the judge to terminate her conservatorship without the need for any further evaluation. The June 23, 2021, Hearing: ”I’m [Not] A Slave 4 U”…
Conservatorship proceedings are commenced for a variety of reasons, but the most common circumstance is when an elderly person requires assistance, either with their medical care, or their financial affairs, or both, and that individual does not have an alternative in place which would eliminate the need for a conservatorship.…
2020 has been a year to remember for so many reasons: a global pandemic, the race to a vaccine, and an election with record-breaking voter turnout. President-elect Joe Biden and his running mate Vice President-elect Kamala Harris campaigned on a platform of detailed proposals, including changes to certain areas of…
In 1978 California voters approved Proposition 13, a landmark measure that set—and has kept—property taxes at a low rate. This November’s ballot includes a proposition known as the “split roll” initiative that would make significant changes to Proposition 13. Currently, California treats commercial and residential properties almost identically when it…
When Karl Lagerfeld passed away in February of 2019 in France, many speculated that his cat, Choupette, was well provided for as part of his estimated $150 million estate. This pampered feline was much loved by Mr. Lagerfeld during his life, and appeared in photoshoots and featured in many high-end…
In advising clients regarding the rights afforded to joint tenants on a bank account, most practitioners would say that the agreement with the financial institution generally would control, with the surviving joint tenant succeeding to the funds remaining in the account on the death of the other joint tenant. California’s…
