For estate planning attorneys
When a plan you drafted ends up in a fight
A client’s family is contesting the trust, or a successor trustee won’t account to anyone. John J. Donahue handles the litigation, so you can stay the planner.
How a referral works
Call John with the basics: who the client is, what was filed or threatened, and the date on any trustee’s notice or court notice. He’ll tell you plainly whether there’s a dispute worth litigating and what it would take.
If there is, John handles the case in the probate departments of the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, where he is most days. You stay the client’s planning lawyer. When the dispute is over, the client comes back to you for everything else.
What John takes on
- Trust and will contests, including late amendments and changed beneficiaries
- Petitions to compel an accounting, and claims against a trustee or executor
- Financial elder abuse discovered after a death
- Probate administrations that have turned contested
- Families who live out of state with an estate in Los Angeles
Contingency, when it fits
For qualifying contest cases, John works on contingency. For a client who can’t fund litigation by the hour, that can be the difference between a fight and a shrug. How contingency works →
Call John directly at 310-351-5434, or send the basics through the contact form.