Event Date:
Jun 29, 2021 12:00 PM
Speaker:
Ryan Szczepanik & Ciaran O'Sullivan
Venue:
The Trusts and Estates Section of the California Lawyers Association
A “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation,” or SLAPP suit, is a court filing complaining of injury as a result of petitioning the court or free speech activity. A SLAPP suit is controversial. Its intent often is to intimidate perceived adversaries by burdening them with the expense of a legal defense until they are silenced. Critics of SLAPP suits cheered when Cal. Code of Civil Procedure § 425.16 was enacted in 1992. Section 425.16 allows a special motion to strike a SLAPP suit. A Section 425.16 special motion to strike, called an “anti-SLAPP” motion, is a powerful tool that litigators can wield against SLAPP suits.
Over the years, the broad reach of the anti-SLAPP motion has itself generated controversy. Litigators, as they often do, have pushed the envelope of this powerful tool, threatening anti-SLAPP motions against all kinds of lawsuits. In short, the tool intended to curb litigation abuse has become the subject of abuse.
Reigning in the application of anti-SLAPP motions has become a hot topic in probate and trust litigation. That topic also is before the legislature: pending Senate Bill 329 proposes the prohibition of anti-SLAPP motions in trust and will contest proceedings.
Event Date: 2018-03-30 12:00 PM
Event Speaker: John Hartog & Margaret Hand
A “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation,” or SLAPP suit, is a court filing complaining[..]
Ryan will discuss a litigator’s perspective to conflicts that estate planners often encounter, including representing clients with mental capacity that may appear impaired, representing clients who want to make a gift to an individual identified in Probate Code section 21380 thereby invoking the presumption that the gift is the product of fraud or undue influence, and representing clients in circumstances where it appears a child or another may have undue influence over them, particularly where there are any questions of favoritism.
Spendthrift Trusts, Limited Protection for Deadbeat Beneficiaries. - California law has long recognized a settlor’s right to restrict a beneficiary’s use of trust assets. Restraints on alienation, spendthrift clauses, shutdown clauses and wholly discretionary trusts are a few of the tools settlors may use when creating a trust for the benefit of someone likely to have creditor problems.