Contempt of Court: A Primer

Principal Ryan Szczepanik presented on “What We Learned from COVID Period” at the April 2021 UCLA Estate Planning Advisory Program. Topics discussed included practicing law after COVID-19, new technologies and the challenges they bring, confidentiality risks, and the future of trials and estate planning.

California recently enacted its decanting statute. The new law allows an authorized fiduciary to modify the terms of an irrevocable trust without the beneficiaries’ consent or court approval. Nevertheless, the settlor’s intent must be preserved, and no beneficiary can object. Here’s how the law compares to the Uniform Trust Decanting Act (UTDA) and other state decanting statutes.

Andrew Verriere & Ryan Szczepanik discuss how California courts remain beleaguered by budgetary constraints.