Rathor v. Rathor CA2/6

Filed 3/4/25 Rathor v. Rathor CA2/6 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION SIX

JACQUELINE E. RATHOR, 2d Civ. No. B335853 (Super. Ct. No. Plaintiff and Respondent, 2023PRTR016493) (Ventura County) v.

DIANA SMITH RATHOR,

Defendant and Appellant;

JOHN JACOBS, as Trustee, etc.,

Defendant and Respondent.

Diana Smith Rathor appeals an order directing the inclusion of the sale proceeds of a painting (sale proceeds) in the trust of Gabriele M. Blackburn, and ordering their distribution to

Jacqueline E. Rathor and Raiendra “Rai” Rathor.1 (Prob. Code,2 §§ 850, subd. (a)(3)(B), 17200, subd. (b)(1) & (4).) We affirm. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY Johanna Margarete Stern (Margarete) owned a painting by the artist Wassily Kandinsky entitled Blick auf Murnau mit Kirche (the painting). The painting was looted from her home in Germany during the Nazi era. Margarete died in Auschwitz in 1944. The painting was later found in a museum in the Netherlands. After decades-long efforts by Margarete’s descendants to recover the painting, in 2022 Dutch authorities ordered the painting to be “restored” to her “heirs,” including a one-twelfth share to the heirs of one of Margarete’s grandchildren, Gabriele M. Blackburn. In March 2023, the painting was sold at auction. Gabriele had one child, Rajendra “Raj” Singh Rathor. Raj and his first wife Angela had two children (Gabriele’s grandchildren), Jacqueline and Rai. In 1998, Raj married his second wife, Diana. Diana thus became Gabriele’s daughter-in-law. Raj and Diana did not have children together. Gabriele, widowed since 1987, established the Gabriele M. Blackburn Separate Property Living Trust in 1990 (the trust). The sixth amendment and restatement of the trust (restated trust), dated May 21, 2013, included the following: Paragraph 1.3 of the restated trust assigned, transferred,