CEB Contributor
Sean McKissick
at N/A
is counsel with Downey Brand LLP, based in Sacramento. He has extensive experience litigating matters ranging from civil rights claims to commercial contract disputes, and currently focuses on trust and estate litigation. He is a regular contributor to , a blog on California trust litigation where this post first appeared.
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Estate of Tarlow and the Spirit of the Law: When Sibling Rivalries Extend Beyond the Grave
June 2, 2025
Sean McKissick
Trusts & Estates
Justice Stephen Field wrote for a unanimous Supreme Court in the 1869 case of
Godoy v. Linzner and the Lawyer’s Duty to Shut Down a Bad Idea
January 2, 2025
Sean McKissick
Legal Ethics, Trusts & Estates, Trust & Probate Litigation
Under universally accepted law, across every jurisdiction, lawyers owe vital and concrete duties to their clients. The duty of confidentiality. The duty of loyalty. The duty to disclose. And, greatest of all, the duty to inform your clients when their ideas are dumb.
Grossman v. Wakeman, Ethical Dilemmas, and What We Owe Our Clients
November 14, 2024
Sean McKissick
Legal Ethics, Trusts & Estates
The California Courts of Appeal are typically pretty stingy with their published opinions – only about 10% of Court of Appeal decisions are published in the Official Reports. And per
No Such Thing As a Free Ride: Probate Code Section 859 Awards Can Go to Whoever Does the Work
September 20, 2024
Sean McKissick
Trusts & Estates, Trust & Probate Litigation
Newcomers to probate litigation are frequently surprised by how differently things work in probate court, as opposed to your more straightforward civil courts. (And how do those newcomers know how civil courts work?
Didn’t Stick the Landing: Despite Legal Artistry, You Still Can’t Amend a Trust with an Electronic Signature
August 14, 2024
Sean McKissick
Trusts & Estates, Trust & Probate Litigation
Regular readers of my articles have already noted my particular enthusiasm for creativity in legal arguments. I am not a judge, but if I were, I would be sorely tempted to pattern my unique brand of adjudicating after gymnastics judges, who dutifully award points for
The Roadrunner Always Wins: Hamilton v. Green and the Limits of Creativity
March 25, 2024
Sean McKissick
Litigation Practice & Procedure, Trusts & Estates
As a child, your parents, teachers, and/or some other adult influence probably sat you down and recounted Aesop’s classic fable, "The Tortoise and the Hare." “Slow and steady wins the race,” they told you. The slow, methodical, and thoughtful tortoise would always win out over the fast-paced, impulsive hare.
A Risky Game: Can an Estate Representative Be Their Own Lawyer?
October 16, 2023
Sean McKissick
Trusts & Estates, Trust & Probate Litigation
You’ve probably heard that “He who represents himself has a fool for a client,” an adage dating back to the 17th century and commonly attributed to Abraham Lincoln (but not by me – I first heard it on an episode of
Armor Up! Protecting Your Estate Plan with a Human Touch
August 28, 2023
Sean McKissick
Trusts & Estates, Estate Planning
There are a few standard questions I almost always get when people find out that I work in probate litigation. “Do people call you right away when their relatives die?” “Isn’t that tough to deal with, emotionally?” And most frequently, “What can I do to make sure no one challenges my estate plan after I die?”
Look Before Leaping Into an Anti-SLAPP Motion
February 3, 2022
Sean McKissick
Litigation Practice & Procedure, Motion Practice , Anti-SLAPP or SLAPPBack, Trusts & Estates
Suing the suer is a common strategy in California civil litigation. A special motion to strike, known as an anti-SLAPP motion, can be a powerful weapon against retaliatory litigation. We have explained
Fog Warning: Has One Bad Actor Made It Harder To Get Evidentiary Hearings?
September 16, 2021
Sean McKissick
Evidence, Litigation Practice & Procedure, Trusts & Estates
There’s a saying among attorneys that “bad facts make bad law.” By extension, “really bad facts” can throw probate procedure into flux by making it harder to qualify for an evidentiary hearing. That’s arguably what happened in
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