Brown v. Jimenez CA5
Plaintiff Rozalynn D. Brown is the beneficiary of a living trust established by her mother. When the mother died, Brown’s grandmother, Patricia Jimenez, became the successor trustee. After Jimenez exhausted the corpus of the trust through various purchases and expenditures, Brown petitioned the probate court to remove her as trustee, direct her to produce an accounting, and require her to reimburse the trust. Brown also sought double damages, attorneys’ fees, and interest. The probate court entered a judgment awarding Brown substantially all the requested relief. The total award was about $1.2 million plus interest, based on a trust balance at the time of the mother’s death of $345,000. Jimenez appeals.
We agree with Jimenez that certain portions of the probate court’s award were erroneous, but we reject her contentions that double damages and attorneys’ fees were not applicable forms of relief in this case. We will affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.
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