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Dodger owners' divorce trial could have been a probate battle

Posted on Sep 02, 2010

The high profile battle between Frank and Jamie McCourt for ownership of the Dodgers could easily have been a probate battle.  Had either one of them died then the decedent's children would have been in probate court asserting their parent owned the team as their separate property or they owned it jointly as community property.  Think that's far fetched?  Think again.  The number of divorces and remarriages during the last 30 years has lead to a large number of blended families.

Often times the couple hasn't paid close attention to how they have taken, or changed, title to the property they own.  When that happens hard feelings can arise when one of the spouses dies.  So often the survivor claims it was community property so half of it is theirs while the children of the decedent claim it was their parent's separate property so the survivor gets nothing.

Couples with larger estates may have signed deeds changing the character of their real estate or beneficiary designations affecting IRAs and other deferred compensation plans.  Sorting it out after death is just as complicated as doing divorce while they are both alive.

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The Grossman Law Firm, A.P.C. are Riverside, California probate lawyers.  We help probate estates in Riverside County, California.  We appear in the Riverside probate court for cases in the area bounded by Temecula, Corona, and Banning, California.  We appear in the Palm Springs/Indio probate court for cases from Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, Desert Hot Springs, Cathedral City, Indian Wells, and Indio, California.  If you  would like more information on probate and trust administration then order our free book The Insider's Guide to California Probate and Trust Administration as well as our free DVD Probate a Will or Administer a Trust After the Death of a Loved One.