Estate of Bonanno

Summary

Estate of Bonanno, 165 Cal. App. 4th 7 (2008) – Key legal topics: equitable estoppel, spousal property petition (Prob. Code § 13650), election to administer (Prob. Code § 13502), and settlement agreements waiving statutory rights. The court held that a surviving spouse who entered a settlement agreement providing for distribution through an order of final distribution, and who acquiesced in years of estate administration, was estopped from later filing a spousal property petition to have her share pass without administration. The ruling reversed the probate court, finding that allowing the spouse to bypass administration would be inequitable to the administrator and estate attorney, whose commissions and fees would be reduced.

Holdings

1. Jean Bonanno is estopped from arguing that the property she is to receive is to come to her without probate administration when Connolly has acted as administrator for years.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Jean Bonanno is estopped from asserting her statutory rights under Probate Code sections 13500 et seq. to have her share of the decedent's estate pass to her without administration, after entering into a settlement agreement that contemplated administration and final distribution, and after allowing the estate to be administered for years.

Disposition

reversed