Betts

David William Betts appeals from a ruling on his application under Probate Code section 21320 to determine whether a proposed probate court petition would constitute a contest to a testamentary trust under which he is a beneficiary. On our independent review of the record, we conclude that the probate court erred in ruling that Betts’s proposed petition would constitute a contest against City National Bank and Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., and accordingly we reverse that portion of the probate court’s ruling.

I

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In 1974, Joan Hazard Betts (the Trustor) created a revocable living trust (the Tmst). Throughout the years before her death in 2002, she made several amendments to the Tmst, two of which are relevant here. In 1993, the seventh amendment to the Tmst (the Seventh Amendment) completely restated the Tmst. In 1996, the ninth amendment to the Tmst (the Ninth Amendment) removed Wells Fargo Bank (Wells Fargo) as trastee and appointed City National Bank (City National).

The Ninth Amendment expressly affirmed language appearing in the Seventh Amendment, which limits the liability of successor trastees: “A successor Trastee shall not be held…