About the Authors
LEONARD THOMAS ADAMIAK is the Supervising Probate Investigator for Los Angeles County. He is a coauthor of chapter 7. Mr. Adamiak received his B.A. in Sociology from California State University, Northridge, in 1969. He worked for the Department of Social Services from 1970–1989 as a case worker, administrative assistant, fraud investigator, and supervising fraud investigator. He transferred over to the L.A. County Superior Court in 1990. He completed thousands of conservatorship and guardianship investigations before attaining his current position in 2003. He currently supervises a staff of ten full-time investigators, one part-time investigator and seven office assistants.
DEE DEE BLACKWOOD has been a probate investigator for the Superior Court in San Luis Obispo County since 1988. She is a coauthor of chapter 7. Ms. Blackwood received her B.A. in Sociology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1974. As a probate investigator, she has completed many investigations in conservatorship, guardianship, and step-parent adoption matters. Her previous work experience was as a social worker in the areas of child protective services, adult protective services, and foster care licensing for San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. She is a member of the California Association of Superior Court Investigators (CASCI) and she has served on the Board and numerous committees and was Chair of the Guardianship Task Force for many years. As Chair during 2004, she was responsible for oversight of an extensive revision of the Court Investigator Guardianship Training Manual. She has also been a presenter at the Family Dispute Resolution Statewide Educational Institute and at CASCI conferences.
PHILLIP CAMPBELL is a partner at Campbell Green LLP in Oakland. The firm has an active trust and estate practice, including planning, administration, and litigation. Mr. Campbell is the author of chapter 11. He received his B.S. in Accounting from the University of Illinois in 1984 and practiced as a CPA for a decade before obtaining his J.D. from Vermont Law School in 1996 and his LL.M. from Golden Gate University in 1998. Mr. Campbell is a supervising attorney for the Alameda County Bar Association Volunteer Legal Services Corporation’s Guardianship Clinic. He has been chair of the Trust and Estate Section of the Alameda County Bar and chair of the East Bay Trust and Estate Lawyers. He serves as a court-appointed special administrator, trustee, mediator, and arbitrator, and sits as a pro tem judge for the Alameda County Superior Court.
VIRGINIA M. GEORGE is a partner in the law firm of Steele, George, Schofield and Ramos, LLP, in Walnut Creek and is also of counsel to the Richardson Law Firm in Walnut Creek. She is the author of chapter 5A. Ms. George received her B.A. in 1981 from the University of California, Davis, and her J.D. in 1984 from the University of San Francisco School of Law. She served as a full-time judge pro tem for the Contra Costa County Probate Court from 2010 to April 2011, and she was a deputy district attorney with the Contra Costa District Attorney’s office, where she litigated extensively, prosecuting approximately 160 jury trials to verdict. Ms. George is a former board member for the Contra Costa Bar Association. An adjunct professor of law at John F. Kennedy School of Law in Pleasant Hill, she was the original executive director and supervising attorney of the school’s now-former Elder Law Clinic. Ms. George is also a past president of Contra Costa Senior Legal Services. Her practice emphasizes estate planning, probate, conservatorship and guardianship cases, and elder law, as well as mediation in those areas.
DON EDWARD GREEN, retired Probate Commissioner, Contra Costa Superior Court, is the author of chapters 1, 3, 5, and 16 and a coauthor of chapter 2. He received his B.A. from California State University, Long Beach, in 1973 and his J.D. and LL.M. (Taxation) from McGeorge School of Law in 1976 and 1983, respectively. Before he became Probate Commissioner, he served as probate staff attorney, Sacramento Superior Courts, from 1989 to 1998. Before working for the court, Mr. Green practiced law as a certified specialist in estate planning, trust, and probate law (suspended while serving as a judicial officer). He is a former chair of the California State Bar Trusts and Estates Section, served as an Executive Committee member for 10 years, and is currently serving as Judicial Liaison to that section. He also serves as a member of the Judicial Council of California Probate and Mental Health Advisory Committee. Mr. Green is a frequent lecturer and speaker for CEB, PLI, CJER, sections of the State Bar of California, county bar associations, and various community groups and charities. He was named Pro Bono Judge of the Year 2003 by the Contra Costa Bar Association.
OLIVER GREENWOOD is a partner in the law firm of Bray & Greenwood LLP in Martinez. He is the author of chapters 1 and 4. Mr. Greenwood received his B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, and his J.D. from Golden Gate University in San Francisco. He speaks frequently regarding probate matters and is a member of the Judicial Council’s Probate and Mental Health Advisory Committee. Mr. Greenwood is also a contributing author to California Conservatorship Practice (Cal CEB) and California Powers of Attorney and Health Care Directives (Cal CEB). Mr. Greenwood’s areas of practice include conservatorships, guardianships, and estate planning. His previous work experience was as a dishwasher, a magician, and an enlisted infantryman in the United States Marine Corps—all of which aid him in his current practice.
JAYNE CHONG-SOON LEE is a coauthor of chapter 5B. She is the Supervising Probate Attorney and Judge Pro Tem for the Superior Court of California, San Joaquin County. She was previously the Probate Attorney for the Superior Court of California, Alameda County. She graduated from Yale University; University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law; and Stanford Law School. She has taught at Stanford Law School, published law review articles currently used in first-year law school classes, and was an adjunct professor in the LL.M. tax program at Golden Gate University School of Law. She has practiced tax law in both the United States and the People’s Republic of China. She lectures for CEB, the California State Bar, and various law schools. She has served on the Probate and Mental Health Education Committee for the California Center for Judicial Education and Research, and has trained probate judicial officers and staff in California. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Trusts and Estates Section of the State Bar, as well as the Probate and Mental Health Advisory Committee of the Judicial Council and the Statement of Decision Joint Working Group of the Judicial Council.
MATTHEW P. MATIASEVICH practices in San Francisco and specializes in trust and estate litigation. He is the author of chapter 17. Mr. Matiasevich received his B.A. from Stanford University in 1989 and his J.D. from the University of California, Davis, School of Law in 1993. He joined Evans, Latham & Campisi in 1997 and became a shareholder in 2003. His reported cases include Conservatorship of Coombs (1998) 67 CA4th 1395.
KATHRYN M. MURPHY has a private practice with offices in Berkeley and San Francisco. She is the author of chapter 9. Ms. Murphy received her B.A. in Philosophy from the University of San Francisco, her LL.B. from Lincoln University Law School, her M.S. (Taxation) from Golden Gate University, and her M.S.W. (Mental Health) from California State University, Sacramento. She is a Certified Specialist in Probate, Estate Planning and Trust Law (State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization). Her practice is limited to estate planning, estate and trust administration, conservatorships, and litigation involving estates, trusts, and conservatorships.
E. JOAN NELMS is in private practice with the Law Offices of Hartnell, Lister & Moore, APC, in Redlands. She is the author of chapter 4. Ms. Nelms received her J.D. in 1989 from Western State University, Fullerton, and is a Certified Specialist in Probate, Estate Planning and Trust Law (State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization). Her practice is limited to conservatorship, guardianship, trust and probate matters, probate litigation, and elder law litigation. Prior to employment with Hartnell, Lister & Moore, Ms. Nelms was employed by San Bernardino County as a Research Attorney for the Probate Department and has taught elder law classes at University of California, Riverside, Extension. Ms. Nelms regularly serves as court-appointed attorney for Riverside and San Bernardino counties on conservatorship and guardianship matters.
LESLIE PARRISH is the coauthor of chapter 5B. Ms. Parrish was most recently a senior attorney with Public Counsel’s Children’s Rights Project in Los Angeles. Ms. Parrish received her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, and her J.D. from Columbia Law School. Between 2004 and 2014, Ms. Parrish supervised the Self-Help Guardianship Clinic at the Los Angeles County Superior Court, Central Division. Ms. Parrish specializes in guardianship cases involving special immigrant juveniles. She is an author of Public Counsel’s publication Caring for Another Person’s Child: A Guide for Non-Parent Caregivers in Los Angeles County.
RUTH A. PHELPS, of Phelps Law Group, APLC, in Pasadena, is a coauthor of chapter 12 and the author of chapter 15. She received her undergraduate degree in Mathematics from Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles and her J.D. and LL.M. (Taxation) degrees from Loyola Law School. She is the former President of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, a national organization of over 4300 lawyers practicing in the field of elder law. Ms. Phelps is a former member of the Executive Committee of the Trust and Estates Section of the State Bar of California, past President of the Southern California Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Council, a member of the Board of Overseers of Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, and a member of the Board of Ability First, which serves children and adults with disabilities. Ms. Phelps is a 2007 Spirit of CEB recipient and is the author and coauthor of several publications for CEB.
JOHN S. ROUGH is the founder and a co-owner of Bond Services of California, LLC. He is the author of chapter 8. Mr. Rough graduated from Occidental College in Los Angeles in 1969. He worked summers during college for Golden State Bonding in the Los Angeles County Courthouse and used that experience to establish Bond Services of California in Santa Ana in 1974. With offices throughout the state, Bond Services of California is the largest writer of court litigation, probate, and conservatorship bonds in California.
CORBY STURGES, a coauthor of chapter 5B, is an attorney with the Center for Families, Children & the Courts at the Judicial Council of California in San Francisco. He advises courts and Judicial Council advisory bodies on legal issues related to families and children appearing in the California court system. Mr. Sturges graduated from Yale University, the George Washington University Law School, and the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. Over the course of his career, Mr. Sturges has taught legal and political theory, clerked for a federal judge, and practiced appellate litigation for the federal government.
JENNIFER THAETE is a partner at Abramson & Thaete, LLP, in Livermore. She is a coauthor of chapters 10 and 13 and the author of chapter 14. Ms. Thaete received her B.A. in Political Science from California State University, Hayward, in 1992 and her J.D. (with honors) from Humphrey’s College School of Law in 1999. Her practice is primarily in the areas of estate planning and administration, including the creation of trusts and wills, and assisting with probate, conservatorship, guardianship, trust administration, and other pre- and postdeath transfer devices. She is an active member of the California State Bar and a member of that body’s Trusts and Estates Section, as well as a member of the American Bar Association, the Alameda County Bar Association, and the Eastern Alameda County Bar Association. She is currently vice president on the Board of Directors of the Tri-Valley Estate Planning Council. She is a member of WealthCounsel, LLC, and a founding member of WealthCounsel Advisors Forum, LLC.
MARY K. VO is a partner at the Law Offices of Scoggins & Vo in Los Angeles. She is a coauthor of chapters 10, 12, and 13. Ms. Vo received her B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1990 and her J.D. in 1993 from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. Her practice is limited to conservatorship, limited conservatorship, guardianship, estate planning, trust, and probate matters. She has served on the Executive Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association section on Trusts and Estates. Ms. Vo participates actively in the Los Angeles Superior Court Probate Volunteer Panel.
JUDITH A. WILLIAMS, a partner in Jones & Williams in Orange County, is the author of chapter 6. She holds B.A. and M.Ed. degrees from the University of Illinois, Champaign/Urbana, and a J.D. from Whittier Law School, Los Angeles. Ms. Williams’s practice focuses on mediation and collaborative law in the areas of family law, guardianships, and adoptions. She is currently President of Orange County Women Lawyers, and is active in the Family Law Bar and is a Board Member of Collaborative Divorce Solutions of Orange County. Ms. Williams was Attorney of the Year for the Public Law Center in 1997, was awarded the Wiley W. Manuel Award for Pro Bono Services in 1998, and was awarded the Remarkable Woman Award by the National Association of Women Business Owners in 2004.
WILLIAM L. WINSLOW is a partner at the Los Angeles law firm of Farmer & Ridley LLP. He is a coauthor of chapter 2. Mr. Winslow is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law and the University of San Diego School of Law (LL.M. in Taxation). He is a certified specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law (State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization) and specializes in settlements of complex personal injury and workers’ compensation cases, including drafting special needs trusts, uses of structured settlements, Medi-Cal and Medicare planning, and related topics. He also advises many fiduciaries about special needs trust administration.
About the 2020 Update Authors
OLIVER GREENWOOD is the update author of chapters 1, 4, 12, 16, and 17. See his biographical information in the About the Authors section.
LARA J. HEISLER is an update author of chapters 5 and 15. She is a sole practitioner in Contra Costa County. Her practice is focused on probate guardianships and conservatorships. Ms. Heisler frequently represents minors and proposed conservatees as court-appointed counsel. She received her B.A. in Literature/Writing in 1992 from the University of California, San Diego, and J.D. in 1997 from the University of San Francisco School of Law. Ms. Heisler has been serving on the Committee for the Criminal Conflicts Panel in Contra Costa County since 2008.
SAMUEL D. INGHAM III is the update coauthor of chapter 8. He has a private practice in Los Angeles limited to conservatorship, guardianship, and trust and probate matters. Mr. Ingham received his B.A. in Latin (summa cum laude) in 1972 from the University of California, Irvine, and his J.D. in 1975 from the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law. He is a certified specialist in probate, estate planning, and trust law (State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization) and has served on the Executive Committees of the Los Angeles County Bar Association sections on Trusts and Estates and Natural Resource Law. He participates actively in the Los Angeles Superior Court Probate Volunteer Panel and Probate Mediation Panel and regularly serves as a court-appointed referee or special master in litigated cases.
CLAUDETTE DONATELLA KUNZMAN is the update author of chapter 6. She has a private practice concentrating on probate matters such as conservatorships, guardianships, estate planning, and elder law. Ms. Kunzman is a member of the California State Bar. She is also a member of the Orange County Bar Association Administration of Justice Committee, the OCBA Elder Law Section and Trusts and Estates Sections.
JAYNE CHONG-SOON LEE is the update author of chapter 9. See her biographical information in the About the Authors section.
PETER A. MACLAREN is an update author of chapters 2 and 10. He currently provides probate-related research support for the San Mateo Superior Court. Mr. MacLaren received a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Idaho, was licensed as a CPA in Idaho, received an M.S. in Taxation from Golden Gate University, a J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law, and is currently an attorney licensed with the State of California. Mr. MacLaren was formerly an adjunct law professor at Lincoln Law School of San Jose and is currently an adjunct professor at Skyline Community College in San Bruno.
WILLIAM MINGRAM is an update coauthor of chapter 8. He is a principal with Bond Services of California, LLC. Mr. Mingram received a B.S. in Quantitative Economics and Decision Sciences from the University of California, San Diego. He began his career at Van Bokkelen Bonds & Insurance Agency and established its Southern California office before partnering with Bond Services of California, LLC.
ALEXIS MOODY is the update author of chapter 7. Ms. Moody received her B.A. from California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), and her J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law. She is a senior attorney at Legal Advocates for Children & Youth (LACY) in San Jose. At LACY, Ms. Moody represents youth in probate guardianships, as court-appointed minor’s counsel and as attorney for minor parents whose children are the subjects of the guardianship. Before joining LACY, she was a sole practitioner representing parents, children, and guardians in family law and probate cases.
LITA PETTUS-DOTSON is the update author of chapter 3 and the owner of the Law Office of Lita Pettus-Dotson, with locations in Contra Costa and Alameda counties. She received her B.A. from San Diego State University and her J.D. from John F. Kennedy University in Pleasant Hill. Ms. Pettus-Dotson has 10 years of experience in the area of insurance defense and has practiced family law for the past 5 years. In addition, she also represents children as minor’s counsel in Contra Costa County and Alameda County. Ms. Pettus-Dotson is a past member of the Alameda County Human Relations Board and received her mediator’s certificate from Community Boards in San Francisco. She is the editor of the FLIM FLAM newsletter for the Eastern Alameda County Bar Association and an association board member.
PETER STERN is the update author of chapter 14. He received his J.D. in 1981 from Stanford University School of Law. Mr. Stern holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in History from Denison University and Princeton University. He is certified as a specialist in estate planning, trust, and probate law by the California Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of California. His current practice deals with a broad spectrum of estate planning, conservatorships, probate, and elder law, including Medi-Cal planning and other legal assistance to families of persons suffering from incapacities. Mr. Stern is a member of the Santa Clara County and Silicon Valley Bar Associations. He was elected to the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) in 2007. Mr. Stern was a member of the Executive Committee of the Trusts and Estates Section of the State Bar of California from 2000–2011 and was its chair from 2007–2008. He served on the Probate and Mental Health Committee of the Judicial Council of California from 2001–2007. Mr. Stern is the author of chapter 19, “Accounting,” in California Conservatorship Practice (Cal CEB), and the update author of chapter 16, “Special Needs Trusts Accounting,” in Special Needs Trusts: Planning, Drafting, and Administration (Cal CEB).
CORBY STURGES is the update author of chapter 5B. See his biographical information in the About the Authors section.
MARK VEZZOLA is the update author of chapter 5A. Mr. Vezzola is the Directing Attorney with California Indian Legal Services in the Escondido Office. His practice includes estate planning for individuals under the American Indian Probate Reform Act, advising Native organizations, tribal boards, and committees, administering tribal elections, code drafting, and defending casino tort claims. He has published several articles and book chapters on the constitutional rights of incarcerated Native Americans to practice their religion, as well as the issue of same-sex marriage in Native communities. He has contributed articles to the Daily Journal, Educational Family Estate Apps, The Prison Journal, Native News in California, and many other publications. Mr. Vezzola previously served on the Board of Directors of the California Indian Law Association from 2010 to 2012 and the San Diego County Bar Association’s Client Relations Committee. He is currently an adjunct professor of History at San Diego Mesa College and of American Indian Studies at Palomar College in San Marcos. Mr. Vezzola graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 2000 with a B.A. in History and minors in Anthropology and International Relations, and earned his J.D. and an M.A. in American Indian Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2005, during which time he clerked for the Hopi Appellate Court and the Justice Department’s Office of Tribal Justice in Washington, D.C.
