Cecil

Statement of the Case

Petitioner and respondent Santa Clara County Public Guardian Robert Cecil, conservator for Kathryn McDowell, filed a petition for substituted-judgment (Prob. Code, § 2580 et seq.), 1 requesting authority to revoke Ms. McDowell’s existing will and execute a trust and a new will with a different beneficiary. The court granted the petition. Objector and appellant Poonsri Ann Netcharu, who was a beneficiary under the existing will, appeals from the order.

We reverse the order and remand for reconsideration.

Background

Petitioner was appointed temporary conservator for Ms. McDowell on August 31, 2000, and permanent conservator on January 25, 2001. He filed the petition on March 11, 2002. In seeking permission to execute a new will and trust, petitioner alleged that Ms. McDowell’s existing will, executed on September 13, 2000, was invalid because Ms. McDowell lacked testamentary capacity at the time and because the will was the product of undue influence that the two named beneficiaries exerted over Ms. McDowell. He sought to name Guide Dogs for the Blind as the sole beneficiary under the new documents.

*662 In support of the petition, petitioner…