Union Patriot Capital Management II v. Castro CA2/5

I. INTRODUCTION

Defendants Richard Rionda Del Castro (Richard), as trustee for the RDCR Irrevocable Spendthrift Trust dated January 11, 2018 (RDCR Trust), and Patricia Eberle Rionda Del Castro (Patricia), as trustee for the PETLJ Irrevocable Spendthrift Trust dated May 21, 2021 (PETLJ Trust), appeal from orders denying their third-party claims and authorizing enforcement of a judgment against Richard and Patricia as individuals by garnishing funds from bank accounts that were in the names of trusts that they created.1 We affirm.

II. BACKGROUND

A. Underlying Action

In 2018, plaintiffs Union Patriot Capital Management, LLC and Union Patriot Capital Management II, LLC sued Richard and Patricia for, among other things, fraud, breach of contract, and conversion, under an alter ego theory of liability for the conduct of certain corporate defendants. On April 13, 2022, plaintiffs obtained a judgment against Richard and Patricia. On September 1, 2022, the trial court issued an amended judgment

“‘Unlike a corporation, a trust is not a legal entity.’ [Citation.] Rather, a trust is ‘“a fiduciary relationship with respect to property.”’ [Citations.] When property is held…