Bruno v. Hopkins

• Decision Date: 13 June 2022
• Docket Number: H044960
• Citation: 79 Cal.App.5th 801,294 Cal.Rptr.3d 852
• Parties: Lynne Francis BRUNO, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Jane Francis HOPKINS, Individually and as Personal Representative, etc., et al., Defendants and Respondents.
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

79 Cal.App.5th 801

294 Cal.Rptr.3d 852

Lynne Francis BRUNO, Plaintiff and Appellant,

v.Jane Francis HOPKINS, Individually and as Personal Representative, etc., et al., Defendants and Respondents.

H044960

Court of Appeal, Sixth District, California.

Filed June 13, 2022

Attorneys for Plaintiff and Appellant, LYNNE FRANCIS BRUNO: Russell James Hanlon, San Jose, Law Offices of Russell J. Hanlon, Ryan Joseph Szczepanik, Hartog Baer & Hand

Attorneys for Defendant and Respondent, JANE FRANCIS HOPKINS, Individually and as Personal Representative, etc., et al.: Raymond A. Cardozo, San Francisco, Reed Smith LLP, Steven A. Ellenberg, San Jose, Hopkins & Carley, James P. Cilley, San Jose, Temmerman, Cilley & Kohlmann, LLP

Greenwood, P. J. Appellant Lynne Francis Bruno filed suit against her mother, Mildred Francis, individually and as trustee of a family trust,¹ as well as two of her sisters, respondents Jane Francis Hopkins and Gwen Francis (collectively Respondents), alleging that they forged trust instruments purporting to divide her parents' estate upon the death of her father. Following a court trial, the trial court entered judgment in favor of Respondents after determining the trust instruments were not forgeries. On Respondents' motion for attorneys' fees, the trial court ordered Lynne to pay over $829,000, finding there was no merit to the position Lynne pursued at the trial, and that Lynne "acted without basis in filing any of her claims."² In addition, the court ordered Lynne to pay over $96,000 in costs.

On appeal, Lynne contends the trial court issued the attorneys' fees order in error. She alleges the trial court lacked jurisdiction to grant a fee award against her because she did not own any actual interest in the trust assets. She further contends that because she had a reasonable and good faith belief in the merits of her claim, there was insufficient evidence to support the issuance of the fee award. Asserting that the record does not support a finding that she pursued her claims in bad faith, Lynne also claims that the trial court erred when it granted an award of costs to Respondents. Finding no error, we affirm the judgment.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The trial court held a 13-day court trial on the bifurcated issue of whether the trust instrument at issue was invalid as a forgery. After the trial court found that the trust instrument had not been forged, it heard Respondents' motion for attorneys' fees, and considered the memorandum of costs offered by Respondents, as well as Lynne's motion to strike or tax costs. In ordering Lynne to pay fees and costs, the trial court indicated it considered the evidence from the trial proceedings in addition to the parties' pleadings.³ We glean the following evidence relevant to the attorneys' fees and cost orders from the record created during the trial regarding the validity of the trust instrument.

A. Creation of the Trust

Mildred was married to James Francis for 67 years. Together they had four daughters (listed in order from oldest to youngest): Gail, who is not a party to this action, Lynne, Jane, and Gwen. Jane and Gwen lived in California and testified that they had a close relationship with their parents. Lynne and Gail each moved to Pittsburgh, where they lived during the time relevant to this appeal. Mildred testified that Lynne's visits after Lynne moved to Pennsylvania were often unpleasant.

Between 1989 and 1991, James and Mildred created an estate plan, resulting in the creation of The Francis Living Trust (the Trust), as well as a last will and testament for each of them. James was an attorney and drafted the documents himself. He handwrote portions of the documents, while others were prepared by various people James employed to type parts of the estate planning documents. The final document consisted of 31 pages. The date the Trust was created was handwritten on the first page, and Mildred and James signed the last page, as did the notary who witnessed their signatures. The remainder of the document was typewritten.

Under the terms of the Trust, upon the death of the first spouse, half of the Trust assets would be allocated to a revocable surviving spouse's trust, and the other half of the assets would be placed in an irrevocable marital trust and an irrevocable family trust. The Trust specified that Lynne and Gail would each receive $200,000 from the revocable surviving spouse's trust, with the remaining assets to be divided equally between Jane and Gwen, after other specified distributions were made. In his will, James indicated that the residue of his estate would be given to Mildred, as trustee of the Trust, subject to her ability to revoke the surviving spouse's trust.

Mildred testified that at the time she and James prepared the Trust, the $200,000 gifts to Lynne and Gail represented about half of the Trust assets. The parents were concerned because Lynne and Gail did not have careers and would thus benefit from receiving a designated amount of money, while Jane and Gwen could rely on their own "lucrative careers" for financial stability. Mildred noted that Jane and Gwen would not have fared well had she and James passed away shortly after creating the estate plan. As time passed, James and Mildred took steps that reflected their intent to leave the bulk of their estate to Jane and Gwen. In 2003, the parents gifted their shares of James's employer's stock to the two younger daughters. In the intervening period between the creation of the Trust and James's death, the value of the Trust estate grew, such that the $200,000 gifts to Lynne and Gail no longer amounted to half of the Trust assets. At the time she commenced her proceedings in the trial court, Lynne estimated the value of the Trust assets was $4-5 million.

B. James's Death and Subsequent Events

James was hospitalized in 2006 after suffering a stroke. Lynne and Gail returned to the family home in California upon learning of James's hospitalization. While staying at her parents' home, Lynne alleged that she found one of her father's estate planning documents in an unlocked metal box in the kitchen. She "perused" the document, but did not recall the title of the document, the number of pages, or whether she saw James's signature on the document. Lynne testified that she saw her mother's and sisters' names, and noted that the document indicated the four children would receive equal shares of their father's estate.

Lynne testified that Mildred and James had not discussed the details of their estate plan with her. She stated that she was purposely trying to find a will or trust because Mildred had told her one had been created. She did not ask Mildred or James for permission to look through their financial documents. She did not discuss the document she saw with her mother or sisters. She testified that she attempted to keep her review of the metal box and its contents secret from Mildred and only discussed it with her husband. In addition to allegedly seeing estate planning documents, Lynne also testified that while she was at her parents' home she viewed records related to Mildred's stock transactions.

Mildred testified that only she and James knew the location of the Trust documents—a locked safe or crawlspace—and she denied that Lynne could have seen the documents, or any copies of them, in a box in the kitchen. Mildred located the Trust instruments in a crawlspace in a guest room closet more than a month after James's death. Mildred and James did not share the location of the documents with their children.

James passed away shortly after midnight on May 12, 2006. Following the funeral, the family returned to Mildred's home and gathered on the patio. At some point, Lynne retreated to a bedroom. When Gail went to check on her, Lynne was angry, and stated that her husband would hire an attorney if Lynne did not get "her fair share...."

Gail and Lynne discussed their parents' estate plans at least two other times prior to 2015. At some point after both women had returned to Pittsburgh, Lynne told Gail during a telephone conversation that "she thought [James's] will should have been read." Gail also testified that in late 2013 or early 2014, Lynne told her that Gail would receive only $200,000 from their parents' estate, with the remainder to be divided between Lynne, Jane, and Gwen. Lynne claimed Mildred had told her this. Gail believed Lynne was trying to create division within the family. Gail claimed Lynne offered to give Gail part of Lynne's share of Mildred's estate. In her own testimony, Lynne stated that Mildred told her in the fall of 2006 that Gail would receive a set amount and the other three daughters would split the remainder of the estate. Mildred denied having this conversation with Lynne.

C. Notification of the Trust

Upon James's death in 2006, Mildred became the sole trustee of the Trust. Mildred waited until 2015 to authorize Jane to prepare the notification required when a revocable trust becomes irrevocable by the death of one or more settlors of the trust under Probate Code section 16061.7, subdivisions (a)(1), (b)(2), and (f).⁴ Lynne received the notice in early February 2015. Mildred suffered a stroke shortly after sending the required notification. Lynne testified that the timing of Mildred's stroke relative to the sending of the required trust notification, as well as phone calls Lynne had with Mildred and with Jane's husband, raised Lynne's suspicions, prompting Lynne to request a copy of the Trust.

With Jane's input, in March 2015 Mildred provided Lynne with the portion of the Trust documents containing only the irrevocable provisions of the Trust. In response, Lynne asked for a complete copy of the Trust instrument, as well as information about the Trust assets. Lynne was informed in a conversation with Jane and in a subsequent letter from Mildred that she would receive $200,000 from the estate. When she again requested a complete copy of the Trust instrument, ...