Estate of Ursula Elisabeth Benham

Case Number

22PR00317

Case Type

Hearing Date / Time

Mon, 08/11/2025 - 08:30

Nature of Proceedings

Review Hearing re: Creditor's Claim

Tentative Ruling

Probate Notes:

Appearances required by all counsel. Zoom appearances are allowed.

Erik Benham's Ex Parte Request to Continue the hearing will be heard at the August 11 hearing. 

The following issues related to the Creditor’s Claim filed on May 20, 2025, by Erik Benham, and the Allowance or Rejection of Creditor’s Claim filed on July 8, 2025, in response to Mr. Benham’s Creditor’s Claim, are noted for the court:

Issue 1:  The Creditor’s Claim filed on May 20, 2025, is not supported by evidence showing the “claim” is a valid creditor’s claim under Probate Code section 9000, because there is no evidence the claim accrued after the death of the decedent. “The word ‘claim’ in the Probate Code ‘has reference only to such debts or demands against the decedent as might . . . have been enforced against him in his lifetime by personal actions for the recovery of money, and upon which only a money judgment could have been rendered.” (Newberger v. Rifkind (1972) 28 Cal.App.3d 1070, 1077 [citing Fallon v. Butler (1862) 21 Cal. 24, 32.) Erickson v. Boothe (1947) 79 Cal.App.2d 266, 276—277. See also Pitzer v. Smith (1981) 123 Cal.App.3d 73, 77 [“It has repeatedly been held that liabilities that arise after the death of a decedent do not require the presentation of a claim prior to the maintaining of an action thereon.”].)  Further evidence is required to be presented to the court showing that Mr. Benham’s expenditures are a creditor’s claim against the decedent, and not a claim for reimbursement against the estate.

Issue 2:  The claim is not supported by any cognizable evidence that the expenditures were actually made.  An itemized list of expenses without receipts is not sufficient evidence.