• > We have recovered more than $250 million for our clients
  • > Albertson & Davidson, LLP recovered more than $250 million for our clients
Advocates Top 100 Member

More About Keith

Originally from Denver, Colorado, Keith grew up on a horse farm raising and showing horses from ages eight to fifteen. His family then moved to California where he graduated from high school and college and then attended law school at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. At Loyola, Keith served as a Note and Comment Editor for the Loyola International and Comparative Law Review before graduating in the top ten percent of his class.

Over his career, Keith has been instrumental in securing more than $300 million in verdicts and settlements for his clients. He has handled and successfully argued complex trust and will issues before dozens of courts throughout the State of California. He taught trust and wills as an adjunct professor at Chapman Law School from 2008 through 2015, has written countless articles on trust and will topics, is regularly invited to give talks and presentations to lawyers and other professional groups on trust and will issues, and was selected into the Top 100 Lawyers by the National Advocates organization. Each year Keith, along with his partner Stewart, present at the prestigious Hawaii Tax Institute in Honolulu, HI, recognized as one of the top trust and will professional organizations in the nation.

Keith is married with two sons and spends his off time with his family and their three dogs. He also enjoys hiking, reading, and writing.

Keith's Credentials
  • California State Bar Association, 2000
  • Los Angeles County Bar Association
  • The Bar Association of San Francisco
  • San Diego County Bar Association
  • San Mateo County Bar Association
  • Santa Clara County Bar Association
  • Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, California
    • J.D.
    • Cum Laude: Top 10 Percent of Class
    • Order of the Coif
    • Note & Comment Editor Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review
  • Chapman University School of Law
    • Adjunct Professor of Wills and Trusts Law
  • U.C. Berkeley
    • Extension Course on Basic and Advanced Estate Planning
  • U.C.L.A.
    • Extension Course on Basic and Advanced Estate Planning
  • University of San Diego
    • Extension Course on Basic and Advanced Estate Planning
  • Riverside Community College
    • Community Education Courses on Basic and Advanced Estate Planning
    • Adjunct Professor of Estate Planning
  • Contributing Author of 21st Century Estate Planning: Practical Applications, by Roy M. Adams, published by Canon Financial Institute
  • The Advantages of Creating Out-of-State Trusts, Los Angeles Lawyers Magazine (Sep. 2005)
  • Death Tax Still Not O.K., Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (Jan. 2006)
  • The New Frontier–Contingency Practice for Trust and Will Litigation (2018)
  • Ethics, Malpractice, Litigation…Oh My! Incapacity, Undue Influence and What Estate Planning and Elder Law Attorneys Need to Know (2018)
  • Trust and Will litigation. American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys (2015)

  • Super Lawyers: 2021
  • Rising Stars: 2009 – 2011

 

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Question & Answers

Read Keith's Answers To Legal Questions From Avvo.com:

Q: Can Trustees of an Ir-Revocable Trust Transfer the Property Back to Themselves Individually?
Keith's Answer

No they cannot do so unless the Trust allows for that (in which case it is probably not a irrevocable trust). In California there are ways in which to terminate an irrevocable Trust provided by the California probate code. Those are the only ways in which Trusts can be terminated.

Q: Need to know time limits on ex parte petition to remove Trustee?

We have an emergent situation with a trustee who has not performed their duties, used funds that are not of the trust, not paid bills, hired an attorney and paid him but not other things in order to disfavor one particular beneficiary and contest the trust and due to all these actions putting the trust at risk of insolvency. There is already a case on file to remove him as trustee due to breach of trust but that was almost two years ago in California and it has not yet been heard. I know how to file but how much notice is required and IS personal service of papers required in Orange County CA?

Keith's Answer

Typically, Ex Parte applications require 24 hour notice, but most courts, Orange County included, have moved to a system where you have to file your Ex Parte application with the court first, and then they give you an Ex Parte hearing date. You then have to give notice of that date. Typically the date is 5 days or so after you submit your Ex Parte application. Personal service is not required, Ex Parte notice is provided by phone to the Trustee’s lawyer.

Q: Trustee Wont Give Beneficiary Trust Statements?

Im a beneficiary. After the trust was liquidated, the trustee wants all the beneficiaries to sign a waiver to a formal accounting to save money, before writing pay out checks to beneficiaries. I wanted to see the informal accounting first and was sent a basic excel format that listed final decedent fees, lawyer/cpa/trustee fees, the credits of some real estate and banking accounts and the total amount. I wasn’t very satisfied with it so I asked to see the trust statements and the trustee says no, because they’re sensitive documents. Is this normal? I’d like to avoid formal accounting too, but I don’t exactly trust the trustee not to self deal. What’s the worse case scenario he could do? Any recommendations? Thanks.

Keith's Answer

You’ll need to file a petition to invalidate the 2012 Amendment in the Probate Court. This petition will likely be based on lack of capacity, undue influence, and fraud based on the facts you gave. In addition, you may want to file a civil lawsuit for financial elder abuse against your brother. To do both of these filings it is almost certain that you need to find a lawyer. This is not something that you will be able to do on your own. Best of luck.

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