With the prominence of the #MeToo movement, sexual harassment and other forms of abuse have been in the spotlight lately. There can be no doubt that sexual harassment continues to be pervasive in workplaces in California and elsewhere. However, few people consider the other side of the coin – that of employers and businesses that are falsely accused of perpetuating, allowing or ignoring sexual harassment.
California Trust Litigation -- Important 2018 Trends
Buffington Law Firm's Trust Litigation team has noted some important trends concerning trust litigation during 2018. In California trust litigation has become vastly more common in recent years because most families utilize trusts rather than wills to transfer their legacies. In former decades the most common way for family legacies to transfer to the next generation was by will, and courts were well-adapted to handle this burden through the probate system. However, in California wills have largely died out in favor of revocable or "living" trusts as the preferred vehicle for transferring a legacy. The courts have struggled to keep up with this relatively new trend. In some counties it has become notoriously difficult to move a trust dispute case to trial simply because of the backlog of cases in the probate division. In some counties only a relatively few judges accept trust litigation cases. This has sometimes led to delays and frustration for litigants and attornies alike.