Hamlin

Filed 10/17/

CERTIFIED FOR PARTIAL PUBLICATION*

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

DELLA HAMLIN et al., Plaintiffs and Respondents, A167695 v. (Alameda County ZAKIYA JENDAYI, as Trustee, etc., Super. Ct. No. RP20061734) Defendant and Appellant.

Dr. Laura Dean Head passed away in 2013, survived by her sisters, respondents Della Hamlin and Helaine Head. Two months before her death, Dr. Head went into hospice care at the home of a former student and friend, appellant Zakiya Jendayi, and during that time, Dr. Head executed a trust instrument naming Jendayi as the trustee and sole beneficiary of the trust. In 2020, respondents petitioned the probate court to invalidate the trust on the grounds of undue influence, lack of capacity, and forgery. After a 17-day bench trial, the court granted the petition, finding Jendayi exerted undue influence over Dr. Head to execute the trust instrument. In the published portion of this opinion, we conclude that respondents, as intestate heirs of Dr. Head disinherited by the trust, had standing to contest the instrument in the probate court and that their petition was…