Estate of Victor J Lizama

Case Number

25PR00166

Case Type

Hearing Date / Time

Tue, 08/05/2025 - 09:00

Nature of Proceedings

Petition for Letters Administration

Tentative Ruling

Probate Notes:

Appearances required.

Victor J. Lizama married Kimberly Sue Lizama on July 2, 2005. On June 6, 2022, Kimberly Lizama filed for dissolution of the marriage in case no. 22FL01086. According to the pleadings in that case, Victor and Kimberly were married for 16 years, 7 months, before separating on February 9, 2022.  They had no children together during the marriage. 

On October 25, 2024, Victor J. Lizama passed away without resolution/final judgment of the dissolution case.  There have been no judgments entered in the dissolution case to date, only a temporary order on May 24, 2023, dealing with some personal property division and access to the home.

Under the laws of the State of California, a proceeding for the dissolution of marriage is terminated by the death of one of the spouses. Death dissolves marriage or domestic partnership as a matter of law. (Fam. Code, §§ 310(a); 298.5(c), 299.3(a).)  If one of the spouses dies after a petition to initiate proceedings for dissolution of marriage, domestic partnership, or legal separation, but before an entry of judgment terminating their marital or domestic partnership status; the spouse’s death will terminate the proceeding and the Family Court will lose all further jurisdiction with respect to marital/domestic partnership status, as well as all other as yet un-adjudicated issues raised by the pleadings. This includes property rights, support, custody, attorney fees and costs. (In re Marriage of Hilke (1992) 4 Cal.4th 215, 220 [“The death of one of the spouses abates a cause of action for dissolution, but does not deprive the court of its retained jurisdiction to determine collateral property rights if the court has previously rendered judgment dissolving the marriage.”]; Raney v. Cerkueira (2019) 36 Cal.App.5th 311, 321, Estate of Blair (1988) 199 Cal.App.3d 161, 166-167; Marriage of Shayman (1973) 35 Cal.App.3d 648, 651 [family court's jurisdiction to divide spouses' joint tenancy property as presumptive community property abated by spouse's intervening death before marital status judgment.].)

Due to the above authority, Kimberly Sue Lizama will be treated as a spouse in the Probate case, for the purposes of inheritance rights.  Since the current record reflects that Decedent died intestate, leaving a spouse and more than one child, one-half of all community property and quazi-community property will pass to Kimberly Sue Lizama (Prob. Code, §§ 6401(a), (b), 100, 101), as well as one-third of all separate property (Prob. Code, § 6401(c)(3)(A-C)).

It is, therefore, recommended the Court inquire whether the children of Decedent will contest the categorization of any property in the estate if Kimberly Sue Lizama is allowed to serve as administrator. If so, it is recommended the Court appoint a neutral, private professional fiduciary to serve as the Personal Representative.

Appearances:

The court is open to the public for court business. The court is also conducting hearings via Zoom videoconference.

Meeting ID: 160 543 3416

Passcode: 5053334