In Estate of Redfield (2011) 193 Cal.App.4th 1526, several siblings got into a dispute over whether their mother's will was valid and whether $136,000 one sibling had withdrawn from their mother's bank account shortly before her death should be included in her estate. Two siblings filed will contests, as well as Probate Code section 850 petitions in which they requested the court to determine that the $136,000 was part of the mother's estate. (Id. at pp. 1528-1530.) Ultimately, the siblings settled both the will contests and the petitions for determination of title to the $136,000. They sought court approval of the settlement, which included an agreement that the decedent's estate would be divided in equal shares per intestate succession, and the dismissal with prejudice of the petition for probate of the will. Furthermore, the will contests and the petitions for determination of title were withdrawn. One sibling nonetheless objected to the settlement, on the ground that the $136,000 was not an inter vivos gift, and should be included in the estate. Decedent's granddaughter, who previously had been appointed co-administrator of the estate, filed a petition for instructions, seeking clarification of the settlement, and arguing that it was ambiguous as to whether the $136,000 was to be included in the estate or not. (Estate of Redfield, supra, 193 Cal.App.4th at pp. 1530-1531.) The court heard argument on both the petition for approval of the settlement and the petition for instructions. It denied the petition for instructions, approved the settlement, denied the petition to probate the will, and dismissed with prejudice the will contests and the petitions for determination of title as to the $136,000. It entered an order accordingly and no appeal was taken. (Estate of Redfield, supra, 193 Cal.App.4th at p. 1531.) More than a year and a half later, two of the settling siblings objected to an accounting filed in the proceedings, on the basis that it failed to include the $136,000 as part of the estate. The court held a trial on the matter and ultimately determined that the $136,000 was part of the estate after all. (Id. at pp. 1532-1533.) The determination was reversed on appeal, on the basis of res judicata. (Id. at pp. 1533-1537.) As the appellate court in Estate of Redfield, supra, 193 Cal.App.4th 1526 observed: "'Res judicata, or claim preclusion, prevents relitigation of the same cause of action in a second suit between the same parties . . . .'" (Id. at p. 1534.) It further stated: "Application of the doctrine of res judicata requires an affirmative answer to the following three questions: (1) Was there a final judgment on the merits? (2) Was the issue decided in the prior adjudication identical with the one presented in the subsequent litigation? (3) Was the party against whom the principle is involved a party . . . to the prior adjudication? " (Ibid.) The appellate court in Redfield answered all three questions in the affirmative, on the facts before it. (Ibid.)