Han

*624 SUMMARY

In 1975, four dentists formed a partnership to acquire and maintain a dental office building. In 1994, the then-partners amended their agreement to allow one of the partners, Dr. Richard Hallberg, to assign his partnership interest to his living trust, and to substitute the trustee (then Dr. Hallberg) as a general partner in place *528 of Dr. Hallberg individually. When Dr. Hallberg died 15 years later, litigation ensued over whether, despite the substitution, Dr. Hallberg was still a partner at the time of his death, triggering certain buyout provisions that applied in the event of a partner's death.

The trial court concluded the trust was not a separate legal entity, and that Dr. Hallberg was a partner at the time of his death. The court stated it was required to follow Presta v. Tepper (2009) 179 Cal.App.4th 909 , 918, 102 Cal.Rptr.3d 12 ( Presta ) ("when a trustee of an ordinary express trust enters into a partnership relationship in his capacity as trustee, it is he, and not 'the trust' which is the party to that agreement").

We conclude Dr. Hallberg was not a partner when he died. His trust, or the trustee of his trust, was the partner. While a trust cannot…