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LITIGATION PARTNERS FOR ESTATE PLANNERS

At RMO, we partner with top estate planning attorneys, providing exceptional litigation support services and trial court experience.

We invest in relationships with estate planning attorneys.

Many of our cases come from referrals and relationships in the business communities we serve. While partnerships with trusted advisors can take a variety of forms, we always remain focused on protecting the client while keeping all necessary parties involved and informed.

Our engagements are often for discrete, well-defined trust, estate and conservatorship disputes that require in-depth experience. Whether working with you as co-counsel, or taking the lead in a case, we respect our partners existing client relationships and commitments.

Trust, experience, transparency and results are how we’ve built a reputation for excellence. Because complex estate disputes often involve estate planning attorneys, asset protection attorneys, accountants, financial advisors, family office managers and other affiliated professionals, we coordinate closely and “play nicely” with trusted advisors in advancing our mutual client interests.

We care about your estate plan clients, deeply.

At RMO, we do great work by putting people first. We know clients need relief from grieving the loss of a loved one. We consider the entirety of a client’s situation, including emotional and psychological factors. It’s about people, not dollars.

Our aim is to achieve the best possible outcome to help clients move on with their lives, and we work with their trusted advisors to find solutions that create the best path forward.

We are resourceful, strategic, and effective.

Hyper focus has its benefits. As a boutique law firm focused on probate, trust and estate litigation, we live in, think about, and litigate these issues all day, every day. To maximize our in-depth experience for our clients, we have layered in technologies large law firms would envy. Why? To allow our lawyers to maximize efficiencies and responsiveness. For clients, this means their cases take less time and require less legal spend to achieve the best results.

“Do I need an estate litigation attorney near me?”

Yes. In most cases, it’s a great advantage to retain a local estate litigation attorney familiar with the county probate court wherein a civil case might go to trial. Why? A local trust litigation attorney is more familiar with probate code nuances in their county, and the local probate court judges and staff.

OUR CLIENTS

TRUSTEES

We represent individual trustees, professional private fiduciaries, and trust companies understand and execute their duties and responsibilities as trustee, including explaining trust documents and interplay with trust amendments and restatements, assisting with marshaling, inventorying and appraising assets, investigating and responding to creditor claims, preparing accountings, coordinating with tax and other professionals, determining distributions to trust beneficiaries, and seeking judicial approval of trustee acts or omissions, where necessary, so your trust administration is efficient and cost-effective, and so you are protected.

EXECUTORS

Discovering that you have been named executor of a will or that you need to get appointed administrator of a probate estate, especially while dealing with the loss of a loved one, can be overwhelming. We have the expertise to guide you through the appointment process, handling all of the paperwork and probate hearings so you don’t have to, walking you through your duties and responsibilities, preparing accountings, coordinating with tax and other professionals, and responding to beneficiaries so your estate and probate administration is worry free, cost-effective, and efficient.

BENEFICIARIES AND HEIRS

Whether you are an heir, a trust beneficiary, a will beneficiary involved in a probate, or the beneficiary of a bank account, a pension, a 401k or other retirement account, or a life insurance policy, we have the experience to advise you of your rights, what you can expect, when you can expect it, and help guide you through your trust, estate or probate administration, to fight to get what’s yours if you are involved in a trust, estate or probate litigation, and to protect you from abuse by fiduciaries, beneficiaries, and others, including protecting you or your loved ones from financial elder abuse.

CREDITORS

Creditors are people, businesses, or anyone else to whom a decedent owed money at the time of death. Most states probate laws require that creditors act within a limited amount of time after a debtor passes to assert their claims, and if they fail to act within that time or fail to follow the specific procedures and methods prescribed by state probate law, their claims may be time-barred and lost forever. These rules apply similarly when litigation is pending against a defendant who dies during a case. If you are owed money by someone who passed, we can help you recover it.

CONSERVATORS

A conservatorship is a process by which a court appoints someone to care for you or your loved one when you or they are unable to provide self-care for their health needs (conservator of the person) or self-manage finances (conservator of the estate), including resisting undue influence and becoming a victim of financial elder abuse. If you think you or a loved needs help or has been or may become the victim of abuse, or if someone is seeking to establish an unnecessary conservatorship for you or a loved one, we can help prosecute or defend your conservatorship.

SPOUSES

Spouses enjoy a special status under many state probate laws that give them special inheritance rights and benefits, including priority for appointment as executor for a deceased spouse’s estate, a right to seek a family allowance for life’s necessities during the pendency of an administration, an ability to pursue a spousal property petition and possibly avoid probate altogether, and, in some states, community property rights.  Entitlement to these rights and the legal procedures that need to be followed to protect them are complex, especially when complicated by family law issues like prenuptial agreements.  If you are a surviving spouse, even if you were in the middle of a divorce at the time of death, we can help you.

PRACTICE AREAS

We have decades of experience getting results for people like you. Our team will listen to you, investigate your claims, develop a strategy aimed at accomplishing your goals efficiently and cost-effectively, whether that’s through negotiated resolution, formal mediation or trial, so that you can move on with your life. Schedule a free consultation, or give us a call.  

TRUST LITIGATION

We represent beneficiaries, heirs, administrators, executors, trustees and conservators/conservatees in cases involving disputing a will or trust, claims of breach of fiduciary duty, fiduciary misconduct and fraud, investment mismanagement, financial elder abuse, incapacity, and undue influence.

PROBATE ESTATE LITIGATION

Stepping into the role of “Personal Representative” to handle your loved one’s trust, will, or probate estate can be an overwhelming experience. We have decades of experience helping individual and institutional administrators, executors, and trustees fulfill all their duties efficiently and cost-effectively. Although just a summary, below are many of the things we can help you with, and we’re always happy to answer your questions.

CONSERVATORSHIPS

When your loved one is incapable of handling their affairs, whether financial or their own care, it may be time to consider a judicial conservatorship of the person (personal health and welfare of the conservative) or conservatorship of the estate (care of the conservatee’s finances), especially where your loved one may be the subject of financial or elder abuse. Often family members believe that a power of attorney or healthcare power may be sufficient, but often they are wrong. Sadly, even more often the person who holds those powers is the one abusing the loved one. Whether you need help analyzing whether a conservatorship is warranted, or need help defending against a frivolous conservatorship action, we can help.

FINANCIAL ELDER ABUSE

Financial elder abuse is one of the fastest growing areas of law, affecting one of the most vulnerable sectors of our society. California’s elder abuse statutes provide extra protections to those 65 years of age and older who were victimized by the fraud or theft of another, most often a “loved one” who takes advantage of mom, dad, aunt, uncle, grandma or grandpa’s incapacity. We have successfully prosecuted and defended hundreds of financial elder abuse cases. 

FROM THE BLOG

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The Guide to Family Trust Embezzlement and Stealing


Family trust embezzlement and stealing is more common than you might think. At RMO Lawyers, we investigate, prosecute and defend these claims every day…
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The Penalty for Stealing from an Estate


When an abuser steals from an estate, the penalty can be as little as simply returning the stolen monies or assets to the trust or estate. However, the California Probate Code does…
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What does a probate lawyer do?


When a person passes away, their assets must be disbursed in a manner consistent with state laws and following the directions they put forth when they were alive…

SCHEDULE A FREE CONSULTATION

Schedule your free consultation here and we’ll contact you at your convenience.

SCHEDULE A FREE CONSULTATION

Schedule your free consultation here and we’ll contact you at your convenience.

Communication Disclaimer

Please note that communications by you to RMO LLP or any of its lawyers through this website do not create an attorney-client relationship between you and the firm. Do not send any privileged or confidential information to the firm through this website or otherwise until instructed in writing from us to do so. 

scott rahn trust litigation attorney los angeles

SCOTT RAHN

FOUNDER & MANAGING PARTNER