RECENT SUCCESS STORIES

 Michael Dennis Wilson, a son of legendary musician and Beach Boys’ co-founder, Dennis Wilson, hired Mr. Imel to (1) file a petition compelling the trustee of the trust to make a final distribution of Mr. Wilson’s share of the trust assets so that, among other things, Mr. Wilson would no longer have his share of royalty payments administered by the trust and, instead, would begin receiving direct payment of his share of music royalties which were being improperly paid to the trust and (2) object to the trustee’s petition which sought instruction from the court to maintain the status quo so that the trustee could continue to receive and administer Mr. Wilson’s share of music royalty payments.  At mediation, Mr. Imel negotiated a settlement with the trustee which secured the relief sought in Mr. Wilson’s petition; required the trustee to make a final distribution of Mr. Wilson’s interests in the trust to Mr. Wilson; and required the trustee to instruct royalty distributors to make future payments directly to Mr. Wilson. The court subsequently approved the settlement and the parties’ respective petitions were thereafter dismissed.  In Re The Administrative Trust Created Under the March 28, 1977 Will of Dennis Wilson, aka Dennis Carl Wilson, Los Angeles Superior Court Case No. 20STPB04294. 

Where grandson was the designated agent for healthcare and finances for his cognitively impaired grandmother, but daughter secured revocations of grandmother's power of attorney and advance healthcare directive in an attempt to undercut the grandson's authority and ability to care for his grandmother, Mr. Imel successfully obtained a court order appointing the grandson as the conservator of the person and estate of his grandmother to ensure that there would be no further interference or obstruction with the grandson's ability to manage his grandmother's care and finances.

In a case in which an adopted child was omitted from her adoptive parents' trust created prior to her adoption, and despite a purported trust amendment expressly excluding the adopted child as a trust beneficiary, Mr. Imel negotiated a settlement which provided his client with a 50% interest (more than an equal share among three children) in a valuable trust asset and gave her complete control over the liquidation of the asset.

Where an estate creditor waited more than 120 days after letters of administration were issued in a probate administration case to file a creditor's claim, and more than 60 days after becoming aware of the administration case to file a petition seeking judicial authorization to file a late creditor's claim under Probate Code Section 9103, Mr. Imel obtained a denial of the creditor's claim following a trial on the merits which, in turn, forced the creditor to dismiss a prematurely filed civil action against the estate.