Davis

*81 *713 Probate Code section 11704 requires an executor to obtain court permission before taking sides in a proceeding to determine who is entitled to a distribution of estate assets. We are asked to decide whether the probate court complied with the statute's requirements when it allowed the executor of Kirk Kerkorian's (Kerkorian's) estate to oppose a petition filed by Kerkorian's former wife seeking a third of her late husband's assets.

I. BACKGROUND

Kerkorian executed a will in July 2013 to govern the distribution of his substantial assets upon his death. On March 30, 2014, Kerkorian married petitioner and appellant Una Davis (petitioner).

Two days before the wedding, Kerkorian gave objector and respondent Anthony Mandekic (Mandekic) $10 million with written instructions to give the money to petitioner upon their marriage "as a transfer from [Kerkorian] to [petitioner] outside of [Kerkorian's] estate and ... in place of any transfer to [petitioner] that [Kerkorian] might make upon [his] death." The day before the wedding, petitioner signed a "Waiver of Marital Rights" (the waiver) in which she relinquished any right to receive assets of Kerkorian's estate through intestate…