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Matter of John V. Legittino Trust

Case Number

24PR00399

Case Type

Trust

Hearing Date / Time

Mon, 08/19/2024 - 08:30

Nature of Proceedings

Petition to Appoint Guardian ad Litem

Tentative Ruling

Probate Notes:

Appearances required. 

The following is noted for the Court at the hearing:

Petitioner requests this Court appoint Guardian ad litem for three minors who are alleged to be beneficiaries to the trust at issue in this case. The gravamen of the request is that the subject trust currently has a vacancy in a required co-trustee position, and the vacancy cannot be solved economically without decanting the trust to change a provision that requires a corporate co-trustee to serve as at least one of the co-trustees.  Petitioner alleges that until someone is appointed to accept service for three minor beneficiaries, the trust is in limbo.

However, such allegations raise more question than solutions to the problem this petition seeks to solve.  The Court should raise the following issues at the hearing:

  1. Is Decanting the subject trust possible?  Decanting of a trust is only allowed in certain trust types which are outlined in the Uniform Trust Decanting Act [Prob. Code §§19501 - 19530].  Petitioner presumes decanting is available with zero discussion as to why.
  1. Notice to a Guardian ad litem is only necessary if “the trust instrument [does not] “provide otherwise.” (Prob. Code, §19507(d).)  Petitioner provides no discussion on this issue, and points to no trust provision for the Court to review.  The Court should not be expected to review the entire trust document submitted to find support of Petitioner’s legal arguments for them.
  2. The reasons given for decanting are suspect and unsupported.  Petitioner, as current trustee, claims that “the time and costs associated with both appointing a corporate Co-Trustee and administering the [subject trust and sub-trusts] with a corporate Co-Trustee outweigh the benefits of a corporate Co-trustee.”  (Pet. at atchmnt. 5, paragraph (c), digtl. p. 2.)  Petitioner offers no cost analysis, nor any explanation why the usual modification procedure at Division 9, Part 2, Chapter 3 of the Probate Code is not a more reasonable and cost effective solution.  Surely, paying lawyers exorbitant Los Angeles hourly rates to create a new trust and decant the assets from the subject trust into a new trust just to change a single corporate co-trustee provision is not as cost effective as just getting all beneficiaries to agree to modify the trust provision under Chapter 3, Part 2, Division 9.

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