Arman

The trial court concluded that appellant Donna Pineda Arman, whose mother was named trustee in the will of John P. Lamerdin for a charitable trust to be created from funds remaining after the deaths of three members of Lamerdin’s immediate family, lacked standing to petition the court for the appointment of a successor trustee after the death of her mother. The court went on to approve an established charitable organization as trustee in accordance with a proposal approved after mediation by respondents the Bank of America (the Bank) and the Attorney General. We affirm the trial court’s orders.

Factual and Procedural Background

The essential facts are not in dispute. After the death of Lamerdin, a 1970 court order for construction and final distribution of his will stated that the trust created by the will would be divided into two funds. Payments from these funds were to be made to Olga Lamerdin, Vera Hellawell, and Peter Lamerdin during their lifetimes. The order went on to state that, “[u]pon the death of the survivor” of the three individuals, “the trust shall terminate and the corpus of the trust shall be distributed to Elvira J. Arman, as trustee, for the purpose…