Sulley-Black v. Johnson CA4/3
A married couple created a trust to hold and manage their property. After the husband died, the wife married her long-term boyfriend and then developed dementia.
Over the next few years, the second husband arranged for the trust to reimburse him hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses. The wife’s adult daughter eventually learned of this and filed a petition under Probate Code section 850 (§ 850) to recover real estate and other assets, accusing the second husband of looting her parents’ trust for his own benefit.
The trial court found the second husband had unduly influenced his wife in bad faith and had breached his fiduciary duty to her. It ordered him to transfer title in a house to the trust, to reimburse the trust for $431,097 in unreasonable expenses, and to pay an additional $431,097 in double damages. The second husband appealed. Finding no error, we affirm.
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