Scott E. Rahn

California attorney Scott Rahn resolves contests,  disputes and litigation related to trusts, estates and  conservatorships, creating a welcome peace of mind for clients. He represents heirs, beneficiaries, trustees and executors. He utilizes his experience to develop and implement strategies that swiftly and efficiently address the financial issues, fiduciary duties and emotional complexities underlying trust contests, estates conflicts and probate litigation.

Driven by a commitment to provide relief to people grieving the loss of a loved one, Scott collaborates closely with clients. He pursues and defends claims involving incapacity, incompetence, undue influence, breach of fiduciary duty, and other similar areas of dispute. His advice and counsel includes prevention and remediation of financial elder abuse.

Positive Path to Resolve Trust and Probate Estate Litigation

Scott is known for in-depth financial investigations and deftly handling intra-family dynamics and decades-long family friction. He has extensive experience in courts, arbitration, mediation and dispute resolution forums across California as well as in key retirement centers in the United States and through strategic partnerships in international locations.

His clients are typically embroiled in inheritance disputes, trust contests, will contests, caregiver undue influence, step-parent undue influence, sibling undue influence, estate administration irregularities, beneficiary bias, trustee misappropriation, accounting irregularities, breach of fiduciary duty, beneficiary theft, trust investigations, accusations of wrongdoing, fraudulent behavior, wrongful taking something from an estate, and breach of fiduciary duties. He focuses on identifying and correcting where behavior went wrong, and where pointing out where allegations of wrongdoing are simply wrong.

While Scott customizes strategies to the unique needs of each client and each case, his overall goal is to achieve the best results—as quickly as possibly for the least legal spend possible—to guide clients forward in a positive direction so they can move on with their lives.

Influenced by his Midwest roots and close relationship with his grandmother, Scott demonstrates his affinity for family values with his own family as well as in the compassion he brings to client engagements.

Investigations, Disputes and Claims of Wrongdoing in Trusts and Estates

Scott has protected his clients’ rights in numerous parental, caregiver and sibling disputes, will contests and inheritance fights, including in these recent matters:

• Incapacity: Secured a sizable judgment for an elderly woman whose deceased brother had been taken advantage of by an unscrupulous advisor.
• Fraud: Led the investigation into long-term, multi-million dollar fraud committed against a wealthy Middle Eastern family.
• Financial elder abuse: Defended a trustee accused of financial elder abuse and breach of fiduciary duty against her mother.
• Undue influence: Unwound the undue influence of an interloping gardener and his caretaker wife on a 94-year-old woman and secured the family home that had been intended for the client.
• International estate litigation: Parachuted into a years-long litigation to secure a favorable multinational/multijurisdictional litigation between decedent’s estranged children and his family.

Trust and Estate Leader for Baby Boom Generation and Families

Increasingly, Scott is resolving issues related to the Baby Boom generation and its unique longevity and wealth transfer issues. Affluent families often have multi-state and every-increasingly global footprints, and Scott’s worldwide contacts support clients in Canada, Mexico, France, Italy, England and elsewhere.

Scott’s effective solutions to the most fraught trust and estate fights has earned him recognition as “Trusts and Estates Litigator of the Year” from the Century City Bar Association and honors from and features in Vanity Fair, Super Lawyers magazine, the Los Angeles Business Journal, and the National Law Journal. Scott is president emeritus of the Beverly Hills Estate Planning Council.