Estate of Dubs CA1/3

Filed 5/14/14 Estate of Dubs CA1/3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

Estate of KATHLEEN E. DUBS, Deceased. LAUREL J. SCRIVANI, as Executor, etc., Petitioner and Respondent, A136398 v. TIMOTHY D. MURPHY, (City & County of San Francisco Super. Ct. No. PES12295457) Objector and Appellant.

Timothy D. Murphy appeals in propria persona from an order in a probate proceeding confirming the sale of real property by a decedent’s estate. Murphy was a longtime month-to-month tenant at the property that is the subject of the court’s order. His leasehold interest and the security deposit he paid at the time he entered into the lease are his only connections to the estate. Because Murphy’s legal rights as a tenant are unaffected by the order confirming the sale of the property, we conclude he lacks standing to appeal. Accordingly, we shall dismiss the appeal. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Kathleen E. Dubs (decedent) died on November 23, 2011. On March 2, 2012, the decedent’s sister—petitioner and respondent Laurel J. Scrivani—filed a petition for probate (petition) in San Francisco. As set forth in the petition, the decedent was a resident of Hungary at the time of her death. Her sole asset in California was a single family residence on Paris Street in San Francisco (the Paris Street residence). It was

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reported in the petition that the decedent’s assets in Hungary would be transferred through an informal affidavit procedure without the need for a court-supervised probate administration. The petition also noted that the decedent owned real property “of small value” in Oregon that would be transferred under Oregon law governing small estates. Attached to the petition was a last will and testament executed by the decedent in 1991. The decedent left her entire estate to Scrivani. As set forth in the petition, the decedent had no spouse, domestic partner, children, or other issue. She was survived by her sister, Scrivani, as well as a brother, Chris Lee Dubs. Scrivani served notice of the petition on her brother at an address in North Carolina. She also published notice in the Recorder. On March 28, 2012, the probate court approved the petition and issued orders for probate and letters testamentary. The court appointed Scrivani as executor. Objector and appellant Timothy D. Murphy is an attorney and was a long-time tenant at the Paris Street residence. He signed a one-year lease that commenced in November 1994. He leased the Paris Street residence on a month-to-month basis under the holdover provision of the lease after the one-year term expired. At the time he signed the lease, he paid a $975 security deposit to a company that managed the property for the decedent. On May 14, 2012, Murphy filed a creditor’s claim in the probate court in the amount of $975—i.e., the amount of the security deposit he had paid in 1994. He also filed a request for special notice as a person interested in the probate proceeding. Murphy filed a verified petition to revoke probate on August 1, 2012. He claimed Scrivani had committed extrinsic fraud by failing to serve him with the petition. He also asserted that the court lacked fundamental jurisdiction because Scrivani had not provided sufficient proof of the decedent’s death, and he claimed the will was facially defective because it omitted any mention of decedent’s brother, Chris Lee Dubs. On August 8, 2012, Scrivani filed a notice of proposed action seeking to approve a sale of the Paris Street residence. The proposed sale was specifically made “subject to tenant’s rights.” Murphy opposed the proposed sale. Among other things, Murphy