Facts: A trustor creates a trust naming their adult child as successor trustee and sole beneficiary. The trustor later amends the trust, naming their caregiver as successor trustee and sole beneficiary. The trustor dies and the caregiver as the successor trustee uses trust assets to purchase property with title vested in their name as trustee. The trustor’s child disputes the validity of the amendment naming the caregiver as successor trustee and sole beneficiary and records a lis pendens against the property purchased by the caregiver.
Claim: The caregiver seeks to expunge the lis pendens, claiming the lis pendens is void since there is no real property claim when the dispute is over an interest in the trust not an interest in the property.
Counterclaim: The adult child of the trustor claims the lis pendens is valid and a claim to real estate is involved since title is affected by any change in a trustee and beneficiary due to title being vested in the name of the trustee as a trust arrangement owns no property.
Holding: A California appeals court holds the recorded lis pendens encumbering real estate vested in the trustee under a trust arrangement is valid when the litigation challenges the validity of the trustee since a change in trustee and beneficiary affects the title to the property when title to the property is vested in the name of the successor trustee as trustee. [Newell v. Superior Court (2024) 107 CA5th 728]
Editor’s note — Since any donative transfer from a dependent adult to their caregiver is presumed to be fraud or undue influence, the petition against the trust already shows the probable validity necessary to maintain the lis pendens.
Related RCD:
Related Reading:
Real Estate Legal Aspects Chapter 25: The revocable title holding trust
Real Estate Legal Aspects Chapter 31: The lis pendens
