Potential Beneficiaries Of Trust Received Notice, But Failed To Participate.
After Don Kirchner died in 2018, the successor trustee of Kirchner's living trust found a document listing 24 charities with handwritten notes appearing to be percentages for distributing the estate. The probate court confirmed the successor trustee and ordered mediation among interested parties. Apparently the parties received notice, but several parties, designated as the "Pacific parties," did not attend the mediation. The participating parties reached a settlement, the non-participating Pacific parties objected to the petition to confirm the settlement, and the probate court confirmed the settlement. The Pacific parties appealed. Breslin v. Breslin, B301382 (2/6 1/26/21) (Gilbert, Yegan, Tangeman).
Affirmed. "The probate court has the power to order the parties into mediation. (See Prob. Code, section 17206 . . . .)" The dispositive case is Smith v. Szeyller, 31 Cal.App.5th 450 (2019), holding that "a party who chooses not to participate in the trial of a probate matter cannot thereafter complaint about a settlement reached by the participating parties." True, the Breslin case involved a mediation, not a trial, but the mediation was court-ordered, and parties receiving notice could not blow it off without consequences.
COMMENT: An online obituary for Don Kirchner states, "Don was a generous man who loved God, loved his wife, loved his country, and his dogs (especially Lola, who was with him through his retirement years)."
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