• MF challenged the alleged settlement of a case, following a lengthy trial over the preparation of contradictory trust documents for a terminally ill man by his spouse, and his adult children from a prior marriage, respectively.  The estate consisted of several hundred acres of highly productive farmland in Monterey County and a cattle ranch in Marin County. The spouse challenged the validity of the settlement agreement recited in open court on the ground that the terms of the alleged settlement were not sufficiently certain to be enforceable. The matter was fully developed before the trial court, which declined to set aside the settlement. On appeal the settlement was held to be unenforceable based upon the evidence presented by MF to the trial court.

• MF represented the second wife in a case involving the validity of a will prepared and signed by a husband, several months after marriage to a second wife, and leaving substantial assets to the second wife. When it was revealed that the witnesses to the husband’s signature of the will did not sign the will themselves before the husband’s death, but instead signed witness statements after his death, the adult children of the husband from a first marriage challenged the will’s validity. The trial court ruled that the will was not valid because the witnesses did not sign the will at the time of its execution, and the case was appealed. The case was one of first impression, meaning that the issue had never before been decided by a court in California nor any other state. While on appeal, the case resolved at mediation favorably to the second wife. Several years later, the California Supreme Court upheld a will executed under almost identical circumstances, validating the MF position asserted on behalf of the second wife.

• MF represented Tai-Kin Wong’s business and domestic partner in Estate of Wong.
  

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