Estate of Levine

This case illustrates one of the pitfalls of “how to avoid probate.” The appeal concerns a family residence held in joint tenancy although one of the spouses, secretly as it turned out, considered it community property. The court held the property to be joint tenancy and this appeal followed.

Phillip and Estelle Levine were married on January 1, 1974. They had been neighbors for 20 years on Saturn Avenue in Los Angeles, and their respective spouses had predeceased them by several years. Both had children from their prior marriages, all of whom were adults at the time Phillip and Estelle married.

In April of 1975, Phillip and Estelle purchased a home on Lindbrook Avenue in Los Angeles (the Lindbrook home), taking title as joint tenants.

Phillip died on November 26, 1977. His will named as coexecutors his attorney, Samuel Leemon, and his son Murray Levine. Murray filed a petition in the probate court seeking to have the Lindbrook home declared to be community property of Phillip and Estelle. After hearing testimony, the court determined that the home was joint tenancy property, and denied the petition.

At the hearing, Attorney Leemon testified in support of the…