Legal Capacity, Undue Influence, Financial Elder Abuse.

When defendant and decedent married in February 2005, decedent’s trust provided for his children, grandchildren and a former son-in-law. After the marriage, in May 2005, decedent executed a trust amendment providing defendant with 50 percent of decedent’s assets upon his death. Between 2005 and 2008, several other amendments were executed, resulting in defendant being left with most of decedent’s estate. The probate court voided the trust amendments executed after May 2005. The appellate court affirmed because the court’s decision was amply supported by the evidence, despite concluding the lower court applied the incorrect standard for legal capacity and failed to apply a presumption of undue influence to the interspousal transactions.  (Lintz v. Lintz (Cal. App. Sixth Dist.; January 14, 2014) 222 Cal.App.4th 1346, [167 Cal.Rptr.3d 50].)