Get more case briefs explained with Quimbee. Quimbee has over 46,100 case briefs (and counting) keyed to 987 casebooks ► [ Ссылка ]

Estate of Heggstad | 16 Cal. App. 4th 943 (1993)

A settlor who conveys assets into a revocable living trust no longer owns those assets as an individual, allowing the settlor’s family to avoid probate after the settlor dies. In Estate of Heggstad, the court considered what a settlor must do to get those assets into the trust.

Halvard Heggstad executed a will naming his son, Glen, executor. He also executed a revocable living trust, naming himself trustee and Glen successor trustee. The trust property was listed in a document called Schedule A.

A month after Heggstad executed these documents, he married Nancy Rhodes Heggstad. Heggstad died the following year.

Nancy wasn’t named in either the will or trust documents. She and Glen agreed she was entitled to an intestate share of one-third of the estate.

When he created the irrevocable living trust, Heggstad formally transferred to himself as trustee by separate deeds almost all the real property listed in Schedule A. He failed to do this with one property, an interest he held as a tenant in common in a property at one hundred Independence Drive in Menlo Park.

During probate, Glen petitioned the court for instruction on what to do with the Independence Drive property.

Nancy objected that this property hadn’t been transferred to the trust by either a properly executed document or operation of law, so it wasn’t part of the trust and should be included in the estate. Nancy argued that a written declaration of trust couldn’t by itself create a revocable living trust in real property. To properly transfer the property to the trust, Heggstad would’ve had to execute a grant deed transferring the property to himself as trustee of the Heggstad family trust.

The trustee argued that the trust language by itself was enough to create a trust in this property.

The probate court concluded that the trust document created a trust in the Independence Drive property. Nancy appealed to the California Court of Appeal.

Want more details on this case? Get the rule of law, issues, holding and reasonings, and more case facts here: [ Ссылка ]

The Quimbee App features over 46,100 case briefs keyed to 987 casebooks. Try it free for 7 days! ► [ Ссылка ]

Have Questions about this Case? Submit your questions and get answers from a real attorney here: [ Ссылка ]

Did we just become best friends? Stay connected to Quimbee here:

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel ► [ Ссылка ]

Quimbee Case Brief App ► [ Ссылка ]

Facebook ► [ Ссылка ]

Twitter ► [ Ссылка ]

#casebriefs #lawcases #casesummaries

свернуть