Estate of Van Deusen

In Estate of Van Deusen (1947) 30 Cal.2d 285, after the probate court made an order of final distribution, it granted a new trial on the life beneficiaries' petition for directions to the trustee. The court then entered an order granting the petition and ordering the trustee to pay the life beneficiaries a monthly amount that required invading the corpus of the trust, contrary to the express provisions of the final decree of distribution. (Estate of Van Deusen, supra, 30 Cal.2d at pp. 287-288, 293.) The high court concluded the probate court's order granting the new trial was error because after the final decree of distribution, the court had no jurisdiction to modify the decree of distribution, or to modify the trust. (Id. at p. 290.) The court also concluded that even if the court had jurisdiction to grant a new trial on the petition, the order was erroneous because it provided "for an invasion of the corpus of the trust contrary to the express provisions of the decree of distribution without any attempt to protect the interests of the residuary beneficiaries in that corpus." (Id. at p. 293.)