The series
The accounting is the central document in trust and estate litigation. The hard cases are where it is most often wrong, and where the statutes leave the most to judgment. Each article takes a realistic fact pattern and works through it: the law, the solution schedule by schedule, and the judgment calls, with every citation to the California Probate Code, the California Rules of Court or federal law checked against the official text.
- The Margin Account That Outlived Its Owner
Margin debt, an open short sale and foreign currency in a California trust accounting, under Probate Code sections 1060 to 1064 and the Uniform Fiduciary Income and Principal Act - The Family Business Nobody Planned to Run
An operating winery, a related real estate company and the line between income and principal, under Probate Code sections 1060 to 1064, the rules for continuing a decedent's business and the Uniform Fiduciary Income and Principal Act - One Year, Every Corporate Action
Spin-offs, cash-and-stock mergers, returns of capital, large special dividends and bonds bought between coupons, traced through carry value and the Uniform Fiduciary Income and Principal Act - When the Trustee Trades Derivatives
Options, futures and swaps in a California trust accounting, when the source records look nothing like a brokerage statement - Lot by Lot: The Carry Value of Shares Sold
When a fiduciary sells part of a position bought at different times and prices, which carry value goes with the shares sold? Two accepted methods, the case for each, and why I prefer first in, first out (FIFO) over cost-average