In Re Estate of Thomas

DOI TODD, J.

Defendants and appellants David DuBois Elder and Michael Olenick, as trustees of the Betty Gross Thomas Trust, appeal from an order granting in part a petition filed by plaintiff and respondent John Thomas, also known as Piri Thomas, to reallocate a $1.2 million trust distribution from principal to income. Appellants contend that under Probate Code section 16350, subdivision (d)(1)(B), [1] the distribution amounted to a "partial liquidation" which must be allocated to principal. We conclude that the trial court correctly determined that the amount of the distribution did not meet the threshold percentage level constituting a "partial liquidation" under the statute. Accordingly, the $1.2 million distribution was properly allocated to income.

John Thomas (Thomas) is the sole income beneficiary of a testamentary trust (trust) created in January 1986 by his wife, Betty Gross Thomas, shortly before her death. During his lifetime, Thomas is to receive "all trust income." Appellants, who are Betty Thomas's sons by prior marriages, are the trustees of the trust and hold a remainder interest in it. Upon Thomas's death, they will each receive a one-third interest in the trust…