Woodward v. Dunklin
Filed 6/28/06 Woodward v. Dunklin CA2/1
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 977(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 977(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT
DIVISION ONE
| MARTHA E. WOODWARD, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. JUDITH A. DUNKLIN et al., Defendants and Appellants. | B185845 (Super. Ct. No. VC 041964) |
APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Raul A. Sahagun, Judge. Affirmed.
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Law Office of Linda Pethick and Linda Pethick for Defendants and Appellants Judith A. Dunklin, Mark L. Woodward and Ronald R. Woodward.
Nugent, Weinman, Abbene & Alcock and Andrew J. Liska for Plaintiff and Respondent.
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Martha E. Woodward filed this action for partition of real property located in Whittier, California (the Property). After a bench trial, the court entered an interlocutory judgment for partition, and the defendants appealed. We affirm.
BACKGROUND
Martha E. Woodward (Martha) is the widow of Frederick A. Woodward (Fred).[1] Defendants Judith A. Dunklin (Judith), Mark L. Woodward (Mark), and Ronald R. Woodward (Ronald) are Fred's children from a previous marriage.
Martha owns a 34 percent interest in the Property, the Jane O. Woodward Trust (JOW Trust) owns a 15 percent interest, and Trust A of the Residual Trust of the Frederick A. and Martha E. Woodward Trust (FMW Trust) owns the remaining 51 percent. Martha and Judith are co-trustees of the FMW Trust and Trust A. Judith and Ronald are co-trustees of the JOW Trust. Judith, Mark, and Ronald are remainder beneficiaries of the FMW Trust and are beneficiaries of the JOW Trust. Martha is the sole income beneficiary of the FMW Trust.
The Property is a large piece of commercial real estate that was formerly leased to a car dealership. It is presently unoccupied, and the area is in the process of being rezoned in a manner that would not allow the operation of a car dealership on the Property.
After Fred died, a number of disagreements arose between Martha, on the one hand, and Judith, Mark, and Ronald, on the other, concerning the trusts, which led to the filing of three separate lawsuits. All of that litigation was resolved by a single settlement agreement.
The settlement agreement provides for a right of first refusal with respect to sale of all or part of the Property. Paragraph 8 of the agreement provides that â€
