Case Results

Our firm has handled hundreds of trust/litigation matters over the past twenty years. Dozens of these cases have gone to trial, and several to appeal. We also work hard to obtain favorable settlements for our clients when we can. Below is a small sampling of some of our more recent cases – including cases that we have tried in Court and cases that we have settled.

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Total Victory for Trustee

Cases Tried in Court Breach of Fiduciary Duty/Surcharge/Accounting/Real Property Dispute
In 2015, our client, who was the Trustee of his father’s trust, hired us to represent him in a dispute with his sister, where his sister was claiming that he wrongfully took a parcel of real property from their father. Our client was sued for breach of fiduciary duty, removal as Trustee, accounting dispute, and surcharge. After a 7-day trial in 2017, our client won a total victory. The Court denied all claims against him and found no liability.
Generous Settlement Obtained

Settled Cases Elder Abuse
We recently had a case where a woman took advantage of an elderly 70-year-old gentleman who had just lost his wife. The new woman injected herself into the gentlemen’s life and coerced him into giving her hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash over several years. She even coerced him into entering into a domestic partnership with him. When the gentleman died, the woman (claiming she was his “domestic partner”) sought ½ of his entire multi-million dollar estate. We represented the family. After several years of intense litigation, we were able to defeat the woman’s claims. She recently settled for pennies on the dollar. Our clients were ecstatic.
Elder Abuse Case - Huge Award Won in Court

Cases Tried in Court Elder Abuse
In 2019, our client represented the guardian-ad-litem of an elderly woman who had been financially abused. Her Lido, CA property had been improperly encumbered, and the Firm sued for elder abuse, slander of title and quiet title. 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. Our client also received all costs. The matter is pending finalization, but the Court has indicated that the final award is expected to be in excess of $1 million. The Firm has already frozen the Defendant’s funds that will be used to pay the award.
Successful Elder Abuse Defense

Settled Cases Elder Abuse Defense/Breach of Fiduciary Duty/Surcharge
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.
Massive Settlement Win for Client

Settled Cases Elder Abuse Defense/Trust Litigation
In 2014, our client’s husband died. His daughter from a prior marriage sued our client for millions of dollars in assets that the husband had gifted to our client. The children were assisted in their litigation by the Decedent’s ex-lawyer who he had named as Trustee of his Trust. After our firm was hired, we counter-sued the children and the lawyer for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, removal as Trustee and numerous other causes of action. A complex litigation ensured where our client’s counter-suits were spread across Orange County Probate Court, Orange County Civil Court, and Los Angeles Probate Court. After vigorously defending our client in all of these Courts for four years, we forced a settlement of the entire matter which strongly favored our client.
Funds Frozen, Client Wins

Settled Cases Elder Abuse/Theft/Trust Fraud
In 2018, our client’s mother died. He believed that he was the Trustee and beneficiary of his mother’s Trust. However, after the mother died, our client 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. Moreover, the daughter and her boyfriend had taken over $1 million of the mother’s bank account funds. Our client hired us in 2019, and we quickly began working on the case. We were able to go into Court and freeze the stolen funds. After aggressively litigating the case, we obtained a settlement for our client where he received virtually all of the frozen funds.