Our Latest Featured Speaker is Chris Carico!
Our latest Featured Speaker is Christopher D. Carico of Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP!
Chris spoke last Thursday during Part 2 of our three part webinar, Probate Litigation 101: The Nuts and Bolts, where he co-taught “Removal of Fiduciaries and Accounting Litigation” with William Benz. Thank you, Chris, it was a big hit with our attendees.
This three part program is designed to give attorneys a practical command of probate litigation from end to end: statutory deadlines, probate-specific discovery, capacity and undue influence, trust and will contests, fiduciary removal and accounting disputes, contested conservatorships, 850 petitions and prohibited donees, and finally settlement, trial, evidence, privilege, ethics, and getting paid. The faculty is heavy with California Certified Legal Specialists in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law.
Chris returns this Thursday, September 24, to open Part 3 with “Pre-litigation Settlement and Mediation Strategies,” covering petitions to approve settlements, preparing an effective demand letter, drafting an unfiled petition, and when you should propose mediation. You can see the detailed agenda and sign up to watch it live, or purchase OnDemand Streaming or a recorded package download, here.
Chris knows this side of the practice well. He is committed to helping people resolve trust and estate disputes as quickly and efficiently as possible, and he puts real time behind it, volunteering as a mediator on the various court-sponsored pro bono probate mediation panels and currently serving as a volunteer Probate Settlement Officer on the Los Angeles County Superior Court’s Probate Settlement Conference Panel.
Chris is Partner and Co-Chair of the Estate Planning, Probate and Trusts Department at Ervin Cohen & Jessup, and a board-certified specialist in estate planning, trust, and probate law with 35 years of legal experience. His practice spans all facets of trusts and estates, and he represents families, individuals, professional trustees, conservators, guardians, and beneficiaries.
What sets Chris apart is that he works both sides of the discipline. He has deep experience in the estate tax planning component and the litigation component, and because of that dual expertise he designs estate planning instruments that stand up to the closest scrutiny, and he knows how to challenge someone else’s instrument from the ground level up.
He divides his time between representing beneficiaries and fiduciaries in dispute resolution, will and trust contests, financial elder abuse actions, fiduciary surcharge, removal and accounting litigation, and property characterization disputes, and counseling clients on advanced estate planning techniques including family limited partnerships, family limited liability companies, designated beneficiary trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, intentionally defective grantor trusts, and life insurance trusts.
Chris has frequently served as a court-appointed expert, giving the probate court his opinions and recommendations in trust reformation proceedings, fiduciary accountings, actions for breach of fiduciary duty, actions for fiduciary suspension and removal, fee petitions, and the compromise of creditors’ claims. From 2014 through 2018 he served on the Executive Committee for the Trust and Estate Section of the State Bar of California, now the statewide California Lawyers Association.
Thank you again, Chris! We are so glad to have you back on Thursday.
