How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
News
- Details
- Written by: DENNIS FORDHAM
The recent appellate court decision by the First Appellate Department of the California Court of Appeals in Spears v. Spears, 97 Cal. App. 5th 1294, 2023 Cal. App., is an important change to how creditors of a decedent’s estate could satisfy their creditor’s claim against the decedent’s trust estate, under certain conditions, in the California First Appellate Department.
Previously, a decedent’s creditor needed first to file a timely creditor claim in the decedent’s probate estate and obtain either a judgment or approval of the claim, and, if there were insufficient assets in the decedent’s probate estate to pay the claim, then proceed against the decedent’s trust estate to pay the unpaid balance.
An important exception to the foregoing rule is when the trustee elects to open the optional trust creditors claim procedure (analogous to a probate proceeding), under sections 19000 of the Probate Code, in the absence of a probate. This allows the creditor to file the claim in the trust creditor claims proceedings.
A trustee may elect this procedure when the trust beneficiaries are located in California and they wish to avoid being chased by the decedent’s creditors after the creditor’s claim becomes a judgment; a judgment creditor has the right to proceed against the beneficiaries who have received distributions when the trust has insufficient assets on hand.
In the Arluk Medical Center Industrial Group, Inc. v. Dobler, 89 Cal.App.4th 530 (Second Dist., Div. Seven, May 25, 2001), the Second Appellate Department, held that, “if the claimant prevails and obtains a judgment in its favor, the judgment is payable in the ordinary course of the administration of the estate. If the estate is inadequate to satisfy the judgment, the judgment creditor may proceed against the assets in the settlor's revocable living trust. The judgment creditor ‘need only establish it has a money judgment against the decedent/settlor; thereafter, the judgment is paid in the normal course of administration of the trust.’”" 89 Cal.App.4th at pp. 540-541.
Under the Arluk decision the trustee does not have to keep a reserve to pay pending creditor claims filed in a probate proceeding.
In Arluk, the creditor’s judgment came after 5 years of probate litigation, by which time the trust was insolvent as the assets were essentially distributed.
In Spears, however, no probate proceedings were open. Thus, there was no probate proceeding in which the creditor could file a claim. Instead, the creditor filed a claim in a trust proceeding directly against the decedent’s trust estate even though the trustee had not opened a trust creditors claim proceeding. The trustee followed the decision in Arluk and denied the claim stating that the creditor needed to file a creditor’s claim in a probate estate.
However, the appellate court in Spears ruled that, “if there is no probate proceeding to administer the decedent's estate, it is impossible for the creditor to obtain a judgment against the settlor's estate.
Arluk also ignores section 19402 and its implicit requirement that a creditor must first proceed against the assets of a trust before seeking recovery from trust beneficiaries who received distributions. (§ 19402, subd. (b).)
In any event, in Arluk, a probate proceeding was opened for the settlor's estate and the creditor obtained a judgment against the estate. (Arluk, supra, 116 Cal.App.4th at pp. 1329–1330.)
Arluk's comment about what happens when there is no proceeding to administer an estate is therefore dicta.” Spears v. Spears, 97 Cal. App. 5th 1294, 1304.
The decision then discussed how the creditor could pursue its claim against the trust: “[the creditor] had two methods available to him through which to assert his claims. If there is no probate administration and the trust claims procedure is not initiated, the creditor may file suit against the trustee to enforce a debt, claim, or action against the deceased settlor. … [¶] Alternatively, a creditor of the deceased settlor or a person who claims that the trustee is in possession of real or personal property belonging to the claimant may file a petition under [Probate Code] §850(a)(3)(A) or (C).” Spears v. Spears, Id..
The foregoing discussion is not legal advice. Consult a qualified attorney or accountant for guidance. Dennis A. Fordham, attorney, is a State Bar-Certified Specialist in estate planning, probate and trust law. His office is at 870 S. Main St., Lakeport, Calif. He can be reached at
- Details
- Written by: PRESTON DYCHES
What's up for February? Venus and Mars make quite the pair, Jupiter and the Moon are each other's Valentine, and observing M81, aka "Bode's Galaxy."
Venus is still a brilliant beacon in the morning, rising in the couple of hours before the Sun. It has been steadily sinking lower in the sky for the past couple of months, though, and by the end of February it's pretty much getting lost in the light of sunrise.
It will start making its return as an evening sight in July. You can catch the bright planet together with a slim crescent Moon on the morning of February 6th, just as the sky starts to brighten.
Next, Valentine's Day brings a nice pairing to enjoy with someone special. That evening, look for the crescent Moon near Jupiter, high in the southwest following sunset. They're just a couple of finger widths apart on the sky, meaning most binoculars will show them in the same field of view.
And speaking of the Moon, NASA's VIPER moon rover is planned to launch later this year, and you can send your name to the Moon along with it! Visit nasa.gov/send-your-name-with-viper for details.
Returning to the inner planets, as Venus begins its exit, we find Mars returning to view. The Red Planet left the evening sky last September, passing through conjunction, where it was on the opposite side of the Sun from Earth, and thus not visible for a few months.
It's now just starting to be visible in the predawn sky. In February it's quite low, and not super bright, but you can observe it brightening and rising ever earlier in the coming months. Those with an unobstructed view toward the southeast horizon can look for a close approach of Mars and Venus as the pair are rising during the last week of February.
February is a good time to view one of the famed "Messier objects" known as M81.
This is a spiral galaxy similar to our own Milky Way, but just a bit smaller, and it's one of the brightest galaxies in the night sky. It's located about 11.8 million light years away from us, which means, if you're able to observe it, those photons of light hitting your eye have been traveling through space for more than 11 million years to reach you.
It was discovered by astronomer Johann Bode in 1774, which is where it gets its other common name, "Bode's Galaxy." At the time, it was simply cataloged as a nebula or faint, fuzzy patch. It wouldn't be until the work of Edwin Hubble in the 1920s that many such faint, fuzzy objects were understood to be self-contained galaxies of stars, outside the Milky Way and incredibly distant from us.
M81 is a bit too dim to see with the unaided eye, but it's visible with binoculars or a small telescope, where it appears as a dim patch of light. With a 6-inch telescope you can resolve the galaxy's bright core, and with an 8-inch telescope, you can begin to make out the spiral arms.
Locating M81 is not too difficult, with the Big Dipper (or the Plough) to guide you. Starting with the star on the end corner, called Dubhe, imagine a line twice the distance from the star on the opposite corner of the Dipper, Phecda. Pointing your telescope or binoculars in that area ought to put you pretty close to M81.
You might also notice its faint, fuzzy companion nearby, which is M82. This is another galaxy, but seen edge-on, and it gets its other common name, the "Cigar Galaxy," from this appearance.
This pair of galaxies is "circumpolar" in the Northern Hemisphere, meaning they rotate around the north celestial pole and never set. (Unfortunately, this means they're not really visible from the Southern Hemisphere.) Although it's visible all year in the Northern Hemisphere, from about February through May, you'll find M81 high in the northern sky in the first half of the night, making it easier to observe.
So grab your telescope, or find a local astronomy event with NASA's Night Sky Network, and check out M81, Bode's Galaxy, a distant cousin to our home galaxy, the Milky Way.
Stay up to date on NASA's missions exploring the solar system and beyond at science.nasa.gov.
Preston Dyches works for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Despite their concerns about the “Zoom bombers” — three of whom disrupted the Jan. 18 council meeting to make racist and antisemitic comments — the council stopped short of taking staff’s recommendation to end Zoom comments by anyone outside of contractors or other city-approved users.
Instead, council members asked staff to research implementing tighter controls on Zoom, the virtual meeting platform that has become ubiquitous out of necessity since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020.
Gov. Gavin Newsom implemented emergency orders that rolled back Brown Act rules in 2020 in order to allow for elected officials to use Zoom to meet safely in response to concerns over health as the pandemic was taking shape.
City Manager Alan Flora outlined the temporary changes to the Brown Act and explained that the city didn’t use Zoom before then but staffers have continued to use it since because of its convenience for some community members.
Flora said the state’s emergency orders have been rolled back. One key example — governing board members are no longer allowed to attend via Zoom unless under specific circumstances.
City Clerk Melissa Swanson said the city began live streaming via Zoom in August 2020.
Swanson said a poll of Calfiornia’s city clerks found that 50 of 70 agencies reported experiencing Zoom bombing.
Of those, 42 agencies said they either no longer allow comments via Zoom or use it in very limited fashion for presenters and staff. Four others are considering discontinuing it.
City Attorney Ryan Jones said his firm, Jones and Mayer, works with a number of government jurisdictions, a lot of which he said are scaling back use of the platform due to Zoom bombers. He said nothing precludes people from commenting through email.
Flora said the city uses Zoom to record meetings and stream them to Youtube, which is a convenient way to get a recording. He suggested reserving commenting for consultants.
Councilmember Joyce Overton asked if they could still do a chat room with Zoom and use that function to filter out inappropriate comments. Flora said he doesn’t know if it’s common practice, and he didn’t want to put staff in the position of having to read comments and be seen as censoring people.
Councilmemember Dirk Slooten said it was important to be as open as possible while doing the people’s business, and he wasn’t in favor of shutting down Zoom comments over one incident.
Councilmember Russell Cremer said he liked Overton’s suggestion about a chat room, but that he never wanted to hear again what he heard on Jan. 18.
“It was obscene and beyond totally inappropriate as far as I'm concerned,” he said, explaining that his first thought was to eliminate Zoom commenting except for presenters and that he had no problem doing away with using Zoom for general public input.
Calling it “a really touchy subject,” Councilmember Russell Perdock said he was concerned about the anonymity Zoom affords. After the Jan. 18 meeting, he received calls from community members offended by the comments from the Zoom bombers.
He suggested implementing more control along the lines Overton suggested in order to take away the anonymity.
“We live in a world where trolls exist,” said Mayor David Claffey, who added that for him the bar has to be higher before they take away a very valuable tool for the community to access public comment.
He asked staff about limitations, and Swanson said the city can set up Zoom with registration and a pass code, which they don’t currently use, and work on getting tighter security.
Claffey asked about the ability to ban Internet addresses, which Jones said he wasn’t sure could be done unless the commenter had threatened the city and the city had a restraining order. Zoom bombing wouldn’t rise to that level.
Jones also noted that it’s a “voluntary ask” to request that people give their names and where they live, and no way to verify they are real, and attempts to verify them could be inappropriate for the city to pursue.
Perdock asked if it was all or nothing — allow Zoom commenting or not.
“Not necessarily,” said Jones.
Supervisor Bruno Sabatier said Senate Bill 1100 could be part of the discussion. That legislation, which the governor signed into in the summer of 2022 and became law in January 2023, amended the Brown Act to give guidance on how government bodies can handle members of the public who are disruptive at open meetings. They must be warned and then they can be removed from the meeting.
Sabatier said the county has a script to use when an individual is causing issues in a meeting.
He emphasized the platform’s value and urged them to set up mechanisms to continue to use it rather than taking it away from even one person who could be bed-bound and otherwise unable to participate in a public meeting.
Flora said that, based on some quick research during the meeting, it appeared that Zoom can be configured for more controls, and that a chat etiquette tool can ban certain words and phrases. He added that they will need to make sure that chat feature is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The council directed staff to do additional research in order to find ways to continue to allow Zoom comments.
Before reaching that consensus, they asked for public comment. There was none in the chambers and none on Zoom.
In other business, the council presented a proclamation in honor of February being Black History Month to Rick Mayor, president of the Lake County Chapter of the NAACP, and Chief Tim Hobbs gave the annual Clearlake Police Department report.
The council also held a special meeting two hours ahead of the regular meeting in which it considered, and ultimately denied, the Koi Nation’s appeal of a new subdivision approved by the Clearlake Planning Commission.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
- Details
- Written by: LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS
The meeting will begin at 4 p.m. at the Moose Lodge, located at 15900 Moose Lodge Lane in Clearlake Oaks.
The meeting will be available via Zoom. The meeting ID is 986 3245 2684, pass code is 666827.
Guest speakers include Lake County Public Works Director Scott De Leon, who will discuss the road rehabilitation plan and a response to the ERTH letter dated Dec. 4.
Also speaking to the group will be Community Development Department Director Mireya Turner and Code Enforcement Manager Marcus Beltramo, who will give an update on the Clearlake Oaks Roadmap Task Force, scheduled to end in April.
Other discussion topics include crosswalk Safety at East Lake School and Highway 20; updates on Spring Valley, commercial cannabis and the Shoreline Area Plan update.
Other scheduled speakers are Northshore Fire Protection District Chief Mike Ciancio, who will give an update on the district, and Supervisor EJ Crandell who will give the group a general report.
ERTH’s next meeting will take place on March 6.
ERTH’s members are Denise Loustalot, Jim Burton, Tony Morris and Pamela Kicenski.
For more information visit the group’s Facebook page.
- New utilities infrastructure savings bill focuses on cost-effective solutions, safeguarding the public
- What is an atmospheric river? With millions of people under flood alerts, a hydrologist explains the good and bad of these storms and how they’re changing
- Restaurant industry comes together in annual expo
