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Trust on Trial

No Bad Faith Required – Trustee of Spendthrift Trust May Be Compelled to Pay Attorney Fees Under Family Code Section 2030

By Sean McKissick

May 17, 2021

Section 2030 of California’s Family Code provides an important safeguard to ensure the fairness of marriage dissolution proceedings. It allows the Court to order a more financially well-off party to pay some or all of the other party’s attorney fees, beginning as early as the start of the proceedings. Section 2030 was enacted to put divorcing parties on equal footing. The protections of Section 2030 extend beyond spouses: where a third party has been joined…

CEQA Chronicles

Poseidon’s Desalination Plant’s Supplemental EIR Holds Water According to the Court of Appeal

By Christian L. Marsh & Natalie C. Kirkish

May 17, 2021

In California Coastkeeper v. State Lands Commission, the Third District Court of Appeal upheld the State Lands Commission’s decision to prepare a supplemental environmental impact report (EIR) for a desalination plant in Huntington Beach, overturning an earlier trial court ruling that invalidated the EIR. Limited changes to a desalination project were proposed in order to comply with desalination-related amendments to the State’s Ocean Plan. Because the prior EIR retained informational value, and the proposed changes…

CEQA Chronicles

In First Published Opinion Interpreting SB 35, Court of Appeal Rejects City of Berkeley’s Attempts to Avoid Application of the Law and Orders Streamlined Approval of Mixed-Use Infill Project

By Kathryn L. Oehlschlager & Megan V. Unger

May 14, 2021

On April 20, 2021, the First District Court of Appeal filed its first published opinion interpreting California Senate Bill 35’s streamlining provisions in Ruegg & Ellsworth v. City of Berkeley. The Court held that the City of Berkeley erred in finding a mixed-use development project ineligible for SB 35 streamlining. Because the project met the essential qualifications under SB 35, the First District commanded the trial court to issue a writ of mandate directing the…

Trust on Trial

Britney Spears and “Marla Grayson” May Propel Tightened Oversight Over California Conservators

By Wiemond Wu

May 10, 2021

When a California probate court establishes a conservatorship, the conservator is charged with managing the conservatee’s person and/or estate in the conservatee’s best interests. The large majority of professional fiduciaries and family members who become conservators discharge their duties faithfully. Occasionally, however, a conservator may exploit the relationship for personal gain. Over the past year, conservatorships increasingly have been in the spotlight. Perhaps responding to the hype, the California Legislature is considering legislation, Assembly Bill …

CEQA Chronicles

Properly Posting Notice of Determination Triggers Short CEQA Statute of Limitations Despite Not Providing the Notice to Petitioner as Requested

By Brenda C. Bass

May 3, 2021

Published on February 9, 2021, the Court of Appeal in Organizacion Comunidad de Alviso v. City of San Jose held that the City of San Jose’s (“City’s”) posting of a second, revised Notice of Determination (“NOD”) adequately triggered CEQA’s abbreviated, 30-day statute of limitations despite the fact that the City failed to provide a copy to the Petitioner’s representative as requested. While CEQA requires lead agencies to provide notices to those who have requested them,…

Trust on Trial

Immortal Right — Income Beneficiary’s Entitlement to Accounting Continues After Death

By Jeffrey S. Galvin

May 3, 2021

Many California trusts confer a lifetime right to income on a person (often the surviving spouse) with the remainder passing to designated survivors upon the income beneficiary’s death. When the income beneficiary dies, is it too late for the executor of the beneficiary’s estate to request an accounting for the purpose of evaluating whether the deceased beneficiary received all income to which he or she was entitled? No, says the California Court of Appeal in…

CEQA Chronicles

First District Finds Petitioner Failed to Exhaust Administrative Remedies in CEQA Challenge to Removal of Controversial Sculpture

April 22, 2021

In an opinion filed on February 1, 2021, the First Appellate District in Schmid v. City and County of San Francisco found that petitioners challenging the City of San Francisco’s decision to remove a controversial sculpture had failed to exhaust their administrative remedies by not appealing the CEQA determination by the San Francisco Historic Preservation Committee (“HPC”) to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (“Board of Supervisors”). The challenge involved the unelected HPC’s decision to…

CEQA Chronicles

California Supreme Court Grants Review of Third District’s Preemption Decision

By Megan V. Unger

April 19, 2021

On December 11, 2019, the California Supreme Court granted review of the Third District’s decision in County of Butte v. Department of Water Resources, dismissing a CEQA challenge to DWR’s relicensing application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for the Oroville Dam on the basis that the claim was preempted by federal law. The Court of Appeal held the Federal Power Act (FPA) exclusively occupies the field of dam licensing and preempts state regulation,…

Trust on Trial

California Appellate Courts Doubly Divided Over Probate Code Section 859

By Jeffrey S. Galvin

April 19, 2021

We blogged recently about Keading v. Keading (2021) 60 Cal.App.5th 1115, which addresses whether a trial court can impose damages under California Probate Code section 859, without a finding of bad faith, if the court finds that a person has taken, concealed or disposed of property by committing elder or dependent adult financial abuse. There is another split of appellate authority as to the interpretation of section 859. Last year, the Court of Appeal,…

The Levee Was Dry

FEMA Moves Out on New Insurance Ratings

By Susan Gilson

April 4, 2021

On April 1, 2021, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) released an official announcement (Release Number HQ-21-079) and Memorandum for Write Your Own (WYO) Principal Coordinators and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Direct Serving Agent (W-21003) outlining plans for implementing its new NFIP rating system known as Risk Rating 2.0 described by FEMA as “Equity in Action.” The press release, memo to NFIP insurers, and a graphic depicting the national impacts of the new…

Downey Brand LLP

Downey Brand LLP Blogs

Blog Authors

No Bad Faith Required – Trustee of Spendthrift Trust May Be Compelled to Pay Attorney Fees Under Family Code Section 2030

Poseidon’s Desalination Plant’s Supplemental EIR Holds Water According to the Court of Appeal

In First Published Opinion Interpreting SB 35, Court of Appeal Rejects City of Berkeley’s Attempts to Avoid Application of the Law and Orders Streamlined Approval of Mixed-Use Infill Project

Britney Spears and “Marla Grayson” May Propel Tightened Oversight Over California Conservators

Properly Posting Notice of Determination Triggers Short CEQA Statute of Limitations Despite Not Providing the Notice to Petitioner as Requested

Immortal Right — Income Beneficiary’s Entitlement to Accounting Continues After Death

First District Finds Petitioner Failed to Exhaust Administrative Remedies in CEQA Challenge to Removal of Controversial Sculpture

California Supreme Court Grants Review of Third District’s Preemption Decision

California Appellate Courts Doubly Divided Over Probate Code Section 859

FEMA Moves Out on New Insurance Ratings

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