Attorney Kyle Andrew Krasa's Legal Cases

Probate

850 Petition

N/A

OUTCOME: The Court granted the petition in full.

Clients came to me with a unique problem. Their family home was in the name of an in-law whom they had never met before and who had died sometime in the 1960's. The in-law's death certificate could n ... ot be found. Since that time, the possession of the home was transferred between three family members but title was never updated. Finally, the family wanted to sell the home but was unable to do so because of the title issue. I hired a private investigator to track down the in-law's death certificate without success. I then had the private investigator sign a report and included the report in an 850 petition and requested that the Court confirm that the property belonged to the client.

Trusts

Petition to Modify Irrevocable Bypass Trust

N/A

OUTCOME: The Court granted our petition in full.

My client, a surviving spouse, had an A/B trust where the Bypass trust only provided her as the surviving spouse with income and not principal. During the trust administration, I pointed out that this ... could be a problem, especially if the surviving spouse needs additional funds to pay for her expenses. Because it is an irrevocable trust, we had petition the Court to approve a modification allowing principal to be drawn from the Bypass trust for my client's health, education, maintenance, and support. We asked all of the beneficiaries (my client's children and grandchildren) to consent to the petition.

Trusts

Petition to Modify Trust with Outright Distributions to Beneficiary Controlled Trust

N/A

OUTCOME: The Court granted the petition in full.

Client's wife died several years ago and client had an A/B trust. While Client was able to modify the A Trust without Court approval, he had no ability to modify the B trust. Both the A and the B tru ... st provided that upon the death of Client, the entire estate would be distributed to his only son outright and free of trust. Client expressed concern for protecting his only son from divorce, possible future creditors, and unnecessary estate tax. I petitioned the Court to modify both the A and the B trusts to change the distribution provisions from an outright distribution to the only son to a beneficiary controlled trust that would provide the aforementioned additional benefits.

Probate

Petition to Probate Email Will

N/A

OUTCOME: The Court granted the petition in full.

Decedent had a Will that was an email to herself. It was printed out, signed, and notarized. Wills in California are not supposed to be notarized but are supposed to be witnessed instead. Under Cali ... fornia law, if a Will is not witnessed or not in the decedent's handwriting, the Will is generally not valid. However, a recent law was passed that is known as the "harmless error" rule that allows a Will to be admitted to probate even if it doesn't follow the prescribed rules if there is "clear and convincing evidence" that the decedent intended the document to be his/her Will. I contacted the Court and the Court had never heard of an email Will and wasn't sure how to direct me. I tracked down the notary who notarized the Will and got a copy of his notary journal and also had him sign and affidavit. Although there were no cases on point, I found legislative history that explained the reasoning for the "harmless error" rule. I submitted Points and Authorities featuring my research and arguments for accepting the Will. I also included the notary's affidavit along with the Petition for Probate.

Kyle Andrew Krasa's Legal Cases (4)

850 Petition

Petition to Modify Irrevocable Bypass Trust

Petition to Modify Trust with Outright Distributions to Beneficiary Controlled Trust

Petition to Probate Email Will