Estate of Corwin CA2/6

Filed 6/24/24 Estate of Corwin CA2/6 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

ESTATE OF BERNARD B. 2d Civil No. B326661 AND LORRAINE K. CORWIN, (Super. Ct. No. 56-2021- DECEASED, 00555798-PR-TR-OXN) (Ventura County)

JOEL M. CORWIN,

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

DIANA CORWIN GORDON,

Objector and Appellant.

The settlors of a family trust provided that its assets would pass to their only living grandchild, appellant Diana Corwin Gordon, if their only child, respondent Joel M. Corwin, “is married to Linda K. Corwin” when the surviving settlor dies. If, however, respondent is not married to Linda when the surviving settlor dies, the trust estate passes to him. The trial court

granted summary judgment to respondent, concluding that the marriage condition was unenforceable because it was a restraint on marriage in violation of public policy. Appellant contends the trust includes a valid condition precedent and does not restrain respondent’s marriage. We affirm. Facts Bernard and Lorraine Corwin (the settlors) established the Bernard B. Corwin and Lorraine K. Corwin 2000 Family Trust (the “Trust”) to hold their assets and govern the distribution of those assets after their deaths. The settlors had one child, respondent Joel M. Corwin, and one living grandchild, appellant Diana Corwin Gordon. Originally, on the first settlor’s death, the trust corpus would split into two sub-trusts, Trust A and Trust B. The surviving settlor’s interest would go to Trust A which was revocable. The deceased settlor’s interest would go to Trust B, which was irrevocable. On the survivor’s death, the remainder of Trust A would be added to Trust B and the entire corpus would be distributed to respondent. Bernard and Lorraine executed the First Amendment to and Restatement of the Trust (the “First Restatement”) one year later. This document provided that, on the first settlor’s death (the “Decedent”), the Trust would split into three sub- trusts: the Decedent’s Trust, the Marital Trust, and the Survivor’s Trust. The Survivor’s Trust held the interests of the surviving settlor (the “Survivor”) and was revocable. The Survivor held a general power of appointment over the Survivor’s Trust. Any portion of it not effectively appointed at the time of the Survivor’s death would be added to, and distributed as part of the Decedent’s Trust. The Decedent’s Trust and Marital Trust