Strauss

Alta Strauss appeals a superior court judgment declaring decedent Christine E. Melcher’s Leisure World residence to be an asset of an irrevocable trust and thus not subject to testamentary disposition. Strauss contends: (1) she was improperly denied a jury trial; (2) there was a failure to join an indispensable party; and (3) transfer of the residence to the irrevocable trust was legally impossible due to restrictions imposed by Leisure World.

I

Christine E. Melcher executed a will on July 14, 1979. On October 4, 1979, she signed an irrevocable trust (the trust) prepared by Charles Benninghoff III, husband of her grandniece, Nancy Lee Benninghoff. Melcher named Dorothy Ellen Summerhays, her niece, as trustee. The trust provided for Melcher’s support during her lifetime and, upon her death, for distribution among her family members. The property transferred to the trust was listed on schedule “I” and consisted of substantially all of her assets, including her residence in the retirement community of Leisure World in Laguna Hills, California (the residence).

The ownership of the residence was signified by certificates for one membership in United Laguna Hills Mutual and…