Estate of Fontaine CA4/3

Filed 6/25/14 Estate of Fontaine CA4/3

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

Estate of ELIZABETH HOULT FONTAINE, Deceased.

JENNIFER HOULT, G048590 Petitioner and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. 30-2013-00625456) v. OPINION JASON FONTAINE,

Objector and Appellant.

Appeal from an order of the Superior Court of Orange County, Caryl A. Lee, Judge. Reversed. Law Office of John K. York and Celinda Tabucchi for Objector and Appellant. Jennifer Hoult, in pro. per., for Petitioner and Respondent. * * *

On December 14, 2009, Elizabeth Hoult Fontaine, her two young daughters, and her mother Bonnie Hoult died tragically in murder-suicide shootings by 1 Bonnie. Jason Fontaine was the father of the two young children. He was also Elizabeth’s estranged husband. At the time of the shootings, Jason and Elizabeth were living apart while embroiled in divorce proceedings, including a heated child custody 2 battle. About three years after Elizabeth’s death, her cousin Jennifer Hoult filed a petition for probate of Elizabeth’s will and for appointment as the administrator. Jason filed written objections to Jennifer’s petition. Jason then filed a competing petition for probate of Elizabeth’s will and to select the administrator. Jennifer filed written objections to Jason’s petition. At a hearing, Jason asked the court for an evidentiary hearing on the issues raised in his objections to Jennifer’s petition, but the court denied his request and granted Jennifer’s petition without a trial. Jason appeals from the court’s order granting 3 4 Jennifer’s petition. (Prob. Code, § 1303, subd. (a).) We conclude the court erred by

1 For brevity and to avoid confusion, we refer to the Fontaines and the Hoults individually in this opinion by their first names. We mean no disrespect. 2 Both Jason and Jennifer refer in their appellate briefs to Elizabeth’s allegations that Jason had sexually abused the children. Jason and Jennifer disagree on whether the Orange County probate court found those allegations to be untrue. The children were ages 2 and 4, respectively, at the time of the shootings. 3 Jason also asks this court, in the event it reverses the order granting Jennifer’s petition for probate, to provide “direction on the notice and publication requirements for competing petitions [as it] would be helpful.” That issue is outside the scope of this appeal. (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.100(a)(2) [notice of appeal “identifies the particular judgment or order being appealed”].) 4 All statutory references are to the Probate Code.