Copley

Helen K. Copley and Joseph P. Kinney (trustees) sought probate court aid pursuant to Probate Code section 1138.1, subdivisions (a)(2) and (4), “to settle accounts of the trustees and for instructions” pertaining to an inter vivos trust established by decedent James S. Copley (grantor) during his lifetime. Janice Copley and Michael Copley (beneficiaries) moved to dismiss the trustees’ petition. (Prob. Code, § 1138.5.) The probate court denied their motion. They appeal urging abuse of discretion in the trial court’s refusal to accede procedural jurisdiction to another department of the same superior court.

We confront here a procedural crossing, a possible conflict between two departments of the same superior court. Necessary to the resolution of this dilemma is an understanding of the relationship of the “probate court” vis-a-vis the superior court of which it is an integral part, For reasons later set out we conclude the superior court, when sitting in probate in performance of functions authorized by Probate Code section 1138 et seq., has limited “jurisdiction” and must, in the circumstances here, accede to the broader plenary jurisdiction to be exercised in the pending…