Court Approval of a Conservatee’s Estate Plan Prevents a Post-Mortem Challenge

Pursuant to local law, the court exercised substituted judgment to approve an estate plan on behalf of a conservatee which effectively disinherited conservatee’s son. After the conservatee’s death, the son sued his sister who was the trustee of the lifetime trust approved in the substituted judgment proceeding.

The court in Murphy v. Murphy, 78 Cal. Rptr. 3d 784 (Cal. Ct. App. 2008), held that the son’s action was barred by collateral estoppel, his claims of undue influence, fraud, and conflict with a prior testamentary agreement all having been disposed of in the prior action.