Nature of Proceedings: Petition to Determine Beneficiaries and Distribution

Appearances required. Any respondents must file a written objection before the hearing. The court has authority to require all objectors to file a written objection pursuant CRC, Rule 7.801, or else deem the failure to do so a waiver.

The following is noted for the court:

Petitioner’s reliance on the disinheritance clause in the pour-over wills in this case is not persuasive. No authority cited by Petitioner stands for a proposition that a disinheritance clause stands supreme over the anti-lapse statutory scheme, as suggested by Petitioner.

To the contrary, case law of this state seems to reject any intent of a testator re: a disinheritance clause, when any property in the testator’s estate fails to be passed by valid disposition:

Before a disinheritance clause in a will becomes effective, the testator must make a valid disposition of h........