Estate of St. John CA2/2

BACKGROUND

Respondent’s petition The trust David St. John2 formed the David St. John Trust in 2006. The trust contained two real properties, both located in Granada Hills. In September 2015, St. John executed a first amendment designating respondent as one of three beneficiaries of the trust. The amendment also named appellant, a longtime friend, as the successor trustee. St. John died in October 2015. Respondent’s allegations In July 2019, respondent brought a petition to compel trustee to account and for an award of fees and costs pursuant to section 17200, subdivision (b)(7).3 Respondent subsequently filed six supplemental papers to this petition. Respondent alleged

All undesignated statutory references are to the Probate Code. David St. John is also known as David John Schmidt. For clarity, we will refer to David St. John as St. John. The petition cites subdivision (c), but it appears to be a typographical error and respondent instead meant subdivision (b).

2 appellant only provided limited informal accounting to the beneficiaries in September 2018, despite concluding administration of the trust in mid-2016. This informal accounting allegedly showed the…