Estate of Beckel

174 Cal.App.4th 34 (2009) ___ Cal.Rptr.3d ___ Estate of DORALEE VERNA BECKEL, Deceased.

MAUREEN STANCIU, as Administrator, etc., Petitioner and Respondent,

v.

KATHLEEN WILLIAMS, Objector and Appellant.

No. F055384. Court of Appeals of California, Fifth District.

May 20, 2009. [36] Machado & Machado and Robert A. Machado for Objector and Appellant.

Hulsy & Hulsy and James R. Hulsy for Petitioner and Respondent.

OPINION

LEVY, J.—

The decedent, Doralee Verna Beckel, died intestate. It is undisputed that, under the laws of intestate succession, the estate will pass to the decedent's surviving first cousins and to the surviving issue of deceased first cousins. The question on appeal is at what generation, if any, do lineal descendents of a predeceased intestate heir lose their status as surviving issue entitled to a share of the estate?

In the petition for determination of persons entitled to distribution, respondent, Maureen Stanciu, the estate's administrator, limited surviving issue to the children of the predeceased first cousins, i.e., first cousins once removed. Accordingly, if a predeceased first cousin's children also predeceased the decedent but the first cousin's grandchildren survived the decedent, respondent took the position that those grandchildren, i.e., the decedent's first cousins twice removed, were not entitled to a share of the estate. Similarly, if the surviving issue were the predeceased first cousin's great-grandchildren, i.e., first cousins thrice removed, they were excluded. The trial court agreed with respondent and thus limited the distribution of the estate to surviving first cousins and the children of predeceased first cousins.

[37] Appellant, Kathleen Williams, the assignee of the heirs of a more remote degree, i.e., decedent's first cousins twice removed and thrice removed, challenges the trial court's order on the ground that it is contrary to law. Appellant argues that, under the applicable statutes, the surviving issue of a predeceased heir entitled to inherit is not limited to the first generation.