Court Investigator's Biennial Review
Santa Barbara County - Judge Jed Beebe - 20260527 Tentative Ruling: Conservatorship of George Bradford Fisher Tentative Ruling: Conservatorship of George Bradford Fisher Case Number 1230156 Case Type Conservatorship Hearing Date / Time Mon, 05/18/2026 - 08:30 Nature of Proceedings Court Investigator's Review Tentative Ruling Probate Notes: The court investigator's report has been received and recommends that the conservatorship continue. No appearance is required. The next review hearing will be held on the same date of the next scheduled Accounting, June 7, 2027.
Tentative Ruling: Conservatorship of Terry Allen Ramsey Tentative Ruling: Conservatorship of Terry Allen Ramsey Case Number 1171960 Case Type Conservatorship Hearing Date / Time Mon, 05/11/2026 - 08:30 Nature of Proceedings Review Hearing on Transfer to Contra Costa County Tentative Ruling Probate Notes: Appearances required. There is no notification of receipt of transfer on file from Contra Costa County.
Tentative Ruling: Conservatorship of Elizabeth Nielsen Tentative Ruling: Conservatorship of Elizabeth Nielsen Case Number 1320148 Case Type Conservatorship Hearing Date / Time Mon, 04/13/2026 - 08:30 Nature of Proceedings Court Investigator's Biennial Review Tentative Ruling
Probate Notes: The court investigator's report has been received and recommends that the conservatorship continue. No appearance is required. The next review hearing will be held on April 10, 2028. The Court will give notice of this hearing.
Tentative Ruling: Conservatorship of Joanetta Hanson Tentative Ruling: Conservatorship of Joanetta Hanson Case Number 21PR00490 Case Type Conservatorship Hearing Date / Time Mon, 04/13/2026 - 08:30 Nature of Proceedings 1. First Accounting and Report of Trustee 2. OSC re Accounting Tentative Ruling Probate Notes: Appearances required. The notes that hereafter follow are provided after review of the Sixth Supplement filed on March 3, 2026:
Procedural Posture There are currently two matters on calendar: A review hearing on the First Accounting and Report of Trustee. An Order to Show Cause why a forensic accounting should not be ordered. On November 14, 2025, a Second Account and Report of the Conservator was also filed, but does not appear to have been placed on calendar. Although that matter is not technically on calendar in the Court's case management system, it was properly noticed for the last hearing date of December 1, 2025, and should have been continued to the hearing date of January 12, 2026.
OSC Why a Forensic Accounting Should Not Be Ordered On December 13, 202 4, the Court issued an OSC as to why the Court Investigator should not be ordered to investigate the trust and require an Accounting. In response to that OSC, a First Accounting and Report of Trustee was filed on January 16, 2025. In response to that filing, several discrepancies were noted by the Court, the most egregious being that the account period suspiciously did not start on a date far enough in the past to give the Court the information needed to determine the reasonableness of the legal fees spent by the trust on the establishment of the conservatorship.
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It was noted that the starting point for the accounting should be at least October of 2021, but more reasonably, May of 2021, when it appears the first work performed on establishing the conservatorship or work paid by the trust was billed. Since those notes were first posted there have been five supplements and one declaration attempting to address the discrepancies noted by the Court, but the trustee still has not amended the Trust Accounting back to October or May of 2021. Thus, the following issues with the First Account and Report of the trustee remain.
Issues With First Account and Report of Trustee After review of the accounting, supplements, and declarations filed in this case (last in time being those filed on February 6, 2026), the issues that follow remain unresolved.
Discrepancy no. 1 - Accounting Period - Unresolved by fifth supplement. It is the responsibility of a trustee to account for all funds within its control. (Prob. Code, Sec.Sec. 16000, 16006, 16011, 16014, 16060-69.) Trustee admits in the fifth supplement that it paid attorney's fees from the trust corpus at the behest of its former attorney, thus should be held to account for the reasonableness of those fees. The