Apr. 9, 2026
No-contest clauses revisited: Enforceability, trust amendments and trustee defense obligations
California's post-2010 no-contest framework narrows enforceability while heightening the "probable cause" threshold, reshaping how practitioners evaluate trust amendments and a trustee's authority--and obligation--to defend them.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2010, the Legislature fundamentally changed the way estate planners and probate and trust litigators approached the enforceability of no-contest clauses. In its simplest form, a no-contest clause is a provision in a protected instrument, i.e., a will or trust containing a valid no-contest clause, that, if triggered, penalizes a beneficiary for filing certain types of claims in court. Prob. Code § 21310(c).
Prior to Jan. 1, 2010, t...
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