In Cook v. Cook, 99 Cal. Rptr. 3d 913 (Cal. Ct. App. 2009), the California intermediate appellate court held that a beneficiary’s pleading violated the no-contest clause in his parents’ trust when the pleading (which asserted that debts the beneficiary owed to his parents were unenforceable due to the statute of limitations) indirectly contested the validity of the trust and an amendment in an attempt to receive an increased share of the trust.
A writing by the settlors (construed by the court as an amendment as a matter of law) specifically directed that debts be deducted prior to trust distributions and listed the past loans the settlors had made to this beneficiary.
