Irvine Probate Lawyers

In July of 2018, our client, who was the Trustee of her deceased mother’s trust, was sued by her sister for breach of fiduciary duty, elder abuse, removal as Trustee, and surcharge. Our Firm vigorously defended the claim and although the initial claim was for in excess of $1 million, we settled for pennies on the dollar. All charges for elder abuse, surcharge and removal were dismissed.

After our client’s father was divorced from his first wife, he entered into a relationship with another woman. When the father got sick, the woman tried to forge/doctor new estate planning documents which would have resulted in my client losing his entire inheritance to the woman. We fought hard in Court, and we were able to obtain a very generous settlement amount for our client. Our client was very pleased.

A client’s father passed away and left her a home. Her father wanted her to have his home so she would have a place to live. When the father passed away, the brothers sued their sister. A nasty litigation ensued, and our firm raised a vigorous defense for our client. Our client ended up with the house her father wanted her to have, and we were able to collect our attorney’s fees from the brothers.

Our client, who believed that he was the Trustee and beneficiary of his mother’s Trust, learned that while his mother was sickly and mentally infirm, his daughter had manufactured a situation where the mother did last-minute changes to her Trust which supposed to disinherit the son. After aggressively litigating the case, we obtained a settlement for our client where he received virtually all of the frozen funds.

Our client hired us after his mother died. He had discovered that before his mother had died, the client’s sister had taken the mother to a notary and had her sign over her house to the daughter. We litigated the matter through a 7-day trial – after which the Court ruled in our client’s favor and ordered the property transferred back into our client’s name.

Our clients (brothers) lost their mother. The father, who was a successful orthopedic surgeon, was aging and began to lose his capacity. A new woman injected herself into his life and began to take over. She moved into his house, put her name on his bank accounts, and supposedly got him to change his estate plan to disinherit his sons. At trial in the matter, we were able to get the house back for our clients in addition to many other valuable assets that the woman had tried to steal from our clients.

Our firm was hired by an elderly gentleman who was being financially abused by his neighbors. After being hired, we obtained elder abuse restraining orders against the neighbors, and we counter-sued for elder abuse and to have all of the fraudulent estate planning documents voided. After we vigorously litigated the matter for two years, the neighbors finally gave up – released all of the client’s assets back to him – and relinquished all claims to his Trust.

In 2019, our client represented the guardian-ad-litem of an elderly woman who had been financially abused. After a nine-day trial in Orange County Probate Court, our client obtained an award for elder abuse damages including double damages, punitive damages and attorney’s fees.

In 2017, we were hired to defend against a claim brought against trustees of their deceased mother's trust by their father for a 50% interest in a $9 million property in Laguna Beach, CA. After a trial that spanned over 2 ½ months, the Court reduced the father’s claim to 25% of the Property and awarded none of the $1,000,000 being sought by the father.

Prior to our client's mother’s death, when the mother was mentally incompetent, the sister took the mother to a lawyer and had her estate planning documents changed – purportedly disinheriting the brother from the mother’s $10 million estate. The matter proceeded in litigation for 4 years, during which our firm relentlessly fought in Court for our client. Finally, the sister conceded, and our client received a generous settlement.