ESTATE PLANNING COUNCIL OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY

Gordon Stuart is a Shareholder in Buchalter’s Los Angeles office, and he is a member of the Firm’s Litigation Practice Group. Mr. Stuart’s practice focuses on trust & estate litigation and elder abuse, as well as real estate and general business litigation. Mr. Stuart has experience representing high-net-worth individuals in complex trust, estate, and conservatorship proceedings. Mr. Stuart has extensive experience representing businesses, manufacturers, and municipal agencies in negligence, premises, and products liability matters.

Representative Matters

Gordon Stuart handles trust & estate litigation throughout California, as well as related business, real estate, and contract actions, with litigation in Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Diego County, Riverside County, and Ventura County.

• Successfully represented a trustee of a trust estate valued in excess of $50 million against claims of breach of fiduciary duty and trust mismanagement.
• Litigated and ultimately defeated Petition by Guardian ad Litem for court approval of settlement agreement entered on behalf of client’s minor children.
• Multiple petitions throughout California resulting in court orders deeming assets omitted from trusts as trust assets, thereby avoiding probate (Heggstad Petitions).
• Represented personal representative of estate worth millions of dollars in business and real estate assets.
• Obtained return of hundreds of thousands of dollars in trust monies wrongfully taken by trustee and trustee’s delegated agent.
• Successfully invalidated trust amendments leaving substantial estate worth millions of dollars to caregivers for incapacitated settlor.

Mr. Stuart also has significant experience in appellate matters concerning a wide range of subjects:

• Heltebrake v. City of Los Angeles, 2015 Cal.App. Unpub. LEXIS 5774 (2nd App. Dist., Div. 5, Aug. 11, 2015) (successfully reversing trial court’s order granting anti-SLAPP motion to strike, where the issue on appeal was whether oral statements relating to publically offered reward constituted protected activity under Code of Civil Procedure Section 425.16);
• Haugen v. Wiley, 2016 Cal.App. Unpub. LEXIS 141 (4th App. Dist., Div. 3, Jan. 7, 2016) (successfully affirming trial court’s dismissal of derivative action where nominal plaintiff failed to maintain membership interest in mutual benefit corporation during pendency of litigation);
• Sacher v. Sacher 2019, Cal.App.Unpub. LEXIS 3866 (4th App. Dist., Div. 3, June 3, 2019) (successfully affirming trial court’s order granting motion to disqualify opposing counsel based upon breach of ongoing duty of loyalty to former client);
• Cooper v. Cooper 2020, Cal.App.Unpub. LEXIS 4141 (2nd App. Dist., Div. 3, June 29, 2020) (successfully reversing trial court’s order entering judgment under Code of Civil Procedure section 664.6 where terms of judgment varied from oral stipulation entered on the record.)

Presentations & Publications

• Gordon Stuart, Presenter at Long Beach Broker Preview  (Presentation)

Education

Mr. Stuart received his J.D. from Pepperdine University, School of Law, graduating with Honors, and his B.A. from Loyola Marymount University magna cum laude in History.