Estate of Shinkle

Ann Miller Ravel, County Counsel, Kathryn J. Zoglin and Tamara Lopez, Deputy County Counsel, for Objector and Respondent: Les Lindop, as Acting Public Administrator, etc., et al.

Charles Allen Triay, Oakland, for Objector and Respondent: Troy Bunning and other heirs.

BAMATTRE-MANOUKIAN, Acting P.J.

C.J. Thompson appeals from a judgment after a court trial in a probate matter in which the court held that a trust instrument from which Thompson had benefited was void pursuant to Probate Code section 21350. [1] Section 21350, subdivision (a)(6) (hereafter section 21350(a)(6)) provides that any instrument that makes a donative transfer to a "care custodian of a dependent adult" is invalid. Thompson was the beneficiary of a trust executed by Laverne Shinkle. Shinkle had resided in a skilled nursing facility for almost three years. During most of that time, Thompson was the long-term-care ombudsman for the facility. The definition of a "care custodian" who is prohibited from receiving a donative transfer under section 21350(a)(6) includes a long-term-care ombudsman. Thompson claims the trust was valid because he was no longer Shinkle's ombudsman when she signed the trust. Thompson had…