McDonnell

I. INTRODUCTION

The Jarvis Ranch, which includes more than 300 acres of agricultural land in Monterey County, is an asset of the Jarvis Replacement Administrative Trust (the Trust). Appellant Todd Jarvis and his brother James Jarvis1 are co-settlors and beneficiaries of the Trust. Respondent John McDonnell, Jr. is the court-appointed trustee. In his capacity as trustee, McDonnell filed a petition for authority to perform a real estate purchase contract for sale of the Jarvis Ranch to Hancock National Resources Group, Inc. (Hancock) for $11.6 million. The terms of the Trust required McDonnell to petition the court since Todd had objected to the proposed sale while James had

1 For ease of reference and meaning no disrespect, we will refer to Todd Jarvis and James Jarvis by their first names. consented. The trial court granted the petition on December 4, 2010. For the reasons stated below, we conclude that the court did not abuse its discretion and we will affirm the order.

II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. The Petition In August 2010 McDonnell filed a verified petition for authority to perform a real estate purchase contract pursuant to Probate Code section 17200.2 The…