Barefoot v. Jennings

Summary

The California Supreme Court held that a person who was a beneficiary before allegedly invalid trust amendments may petition the probate court to challenge those amendments on incompetence, undue influence, or fraud grounds, even if the amendments purport to disinherit that person. A challenger has standing when well-pleaded allegations, taken as true, show that invalidating the amendments would restore the challenger’s present or future interest in the trust. The court reversed the Court of Appeal’s judgment and remanded for further proceedings.