Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
Our family is involved in a probate law suit. We have filed the law suit against our Aunt.
She is having her Son- in - law (who is an attorney in California defend her). He ( the attorney) is deposing our entire family and having our cousin (my aunt's son) act as the independent video tech. My cousin works for the defense's law firm.
Our Aunt's children were all named in the Trust as beneficiaries. The questions we will be answering will not only be about my aunt, but her whole family, especially her son. (the guy doing the video). We all feel intimidated by this.
Judge's have to remove themselves from cases when they have personal or professional knowledge of the individuals who will be on trial. Does the same hold true when the defense council and their staff are family members? This case will involve defense council's wife, sister & brother's- in- law and mother & father - in- law. Can we do anything to have my cousin by marriage, (the defense attorney) and my natural cousin ( the video tech) removed from this case? We are very intimidated . My cousin the video tech, has been very emotionally unstable in the past, and was undergoing treatment for these problems in the past.
Thank You.
2 Answers from Attorneys
It sounds as if the attorney has a conflict of interest and should disqualify himself. If he does not, you can make a motion to disqualify the attorney with the Probate judge. You should also consider hiring representation for you and the rest of the family.
Good luck.
I don't see the conflict of interest, but maybe I am missing something. An attorney has a conflict of interest when he is representing two parties who are adverse to each other, or a current client against a former client. What is significant is whether or not the attorney has been provided confidential information in the context of the attorney client relationship. The rule that you cite for judges is very different.
I also don't see anything wrong with an employee of the lawf irm taking the video deposition, as long as they are not the deposition officer who administers the oath.
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