CA CA - Lydia "Dia" Abrams, 65, Idyllwild, 6 Jun 2020

[coastal]

Fiancé of missing woman takes over as trustee of ranch near Idyllwild | cbs8.com
According to the above interview, and assuming Isidro is correct, it sounds to me (my guess is) that Harper is the 1st Successor Trustee, and Diana is the 2nd Successor Trustee. The 2nd Successor doesn't act unless the 1st Successor is unable. Otherwise they would be Co-Trustees and act together equally.

In the information below Dia would be the "Settlor".
From page 15, https://www.ialawfirm.com/docs/ARAG_Guidebook_Revocable_Trust.pdf
"Co-Trustee or Successor Trustee
Every Revocable Trust has other Trustees. The Settlor may set up the Trust with a Co-Trustee to act with or in the place of the Settlor as designated in the Trust instrument. Since the Revocable Trust is intended to address periods of the Settlor’s incapacity and the Settlor’s death, all Revocable Trusts will have one or more Successor Trustees who gain authority once a triggering event occurs (as set out in the Trust instrument). The Trustee is a fiduciary with enforceable duties to the Settlor and the beneficiaries. A Trustee has duties imposed both by the terms of the Trust instrument and by the law of the state where the Trust is administered."

As far as I understand it, Successor Trustees have a responsibility to do what the Trustee/Settlor (Dia) wants per the terms of the trust. And they have a responsibility to Dia's beneficiary(ies). This is kept going until Dia is no longer incapacitated and resumes control, or she is declared dead. If she is declared dead then the beneficiary(ies) receive what they are entitled to under the trust. And the beneficiary(ies) and Successor Trustees can be different people (or perhaps a beneficiary can be an entity rather than an individual, ie an organization that controls wildlife preserves for lack of better terminology).

MOO: No, it does not seem to me that a Successor Trustee has a legal right change things around/do whatever they want.
However, if a property within the trust were no longer able to be sustained financially I am assuming the Successor Trustee might be able to legally sell other assets/properties to keep the fundamentals of the trust going.
For example, per the trust, if it were imperative that the Ranch become an animal sanctuary, but there are insufficient funds to keep maintaining the Ranch, then the Successor Trustee might have the legal right to sell other assets to continue to maintain the Ranch.

I really appreciate your help with this, SoHelpMeGod!

 

[Desert Cruiser]

CBS news reply...
dgotfredson@kfmb.com

Thank you, xxxxxx I have seen that review. So far, Ms. Fedder has declined to be interviewed on the record.
dgotfredson@kfmb.com | Web: cbs8.com
Office: 858-495-7555 | Fax: 858.560.0627

 

[Curious Me]

Is this KH's RV that he drove away in to go on a business trip when Dia had just gone missing and friends and LE were still searching for her?

Listening to this interview with Isidro again. He says half his life he's worked for Dia on the ranch. Now, KH is the boss. How did this happen?

 

[Desert Cruiser]

s this KH's RV that he drove away in when Dia was missing?

That looks to be the same model, color, style, etc. Looking at the wheels and everything else it appears to be same from the Storage website and the CBS reporting video.

I was hoping that the CBS reporter could have asked a few more questions to Isidro:
1. Was Diana there Sunday and stayed overnight?
2. Did Diana or anybody else have the opportunity to look inside the RV, prior to it's departure?
3. Was Dia or KH aware of the grow on the other property?
4. Did Isidro have any suspicion of the grow on the property?
5. Basically , was it common knowledge, if yes to whom?

 

[Desert Cruiser]

I forwarded questions 1-5 to CBS...

 

[SoHelpMeGod]

I listened to the first part of the video again. It’s hard to tell if they are co-Successor trustees or 1st and 2nd Successors. They could be co-trustees with Harper more in charge of daily operations. I’m not sure.

 

[Curious Me]

KH knows exactly what Dia wanted to do with the property, he says. Spelled it out, wanted to make it into a reserve in her MEMORY. That's what they talked about? I guess she wasn't busy or excited enough planning for the wedding... sorry, I said that rather sarcastically. It's wonderful if that's what she wanted way in the future when she left this earth at a ripe ole age. Plus, it can never be sold.
Fiancé of missing woman takes over as trustee of ranch near Idyllwild | cbs8.com

 

[oviedo]

I'm wondering "what" is in her prenuptial agreement she wants to have invalidated?

She may have agreed to not share in any of his assets he brought into the marriage or only share a part - we do prenups and specifically spell out what will be shared post marriage (and what won’t be share). He has a trust that appeared to fund a marital trust upon his death (I haven’t found the actual trust yet) and it looks like she was using the probate court to change the terms of that funding at his death and I suspect her prenup spelled out what she would get. I’m still catching up on this thread
All JMO

 

[oviedo]

Clem Abrams died in December 2018. Dia was married to him for 35 yrs. Clem, with good intentions perhaps to carry on his legacy, put the children in charge of the trust estate and this inevitably caused fiction between mother and children, IMO. This battle began soon after in 2019. The Court filing explains what Dia was requesting. Then, the children with a controlling opposition to their mother's probate petition get to say no, nope, nada. It seems it was going to be a continuing battle. Recently, those transfers Dia made, I can't explain what they mean, but perhaps it set off further contention. There seemed to be a great division within the family, the battle with a heavy emphasis on money and property. All MOO, but it's a sad view of having wealth.

8/19/2020 News article & video
Former La Jolla woman transferred property before disappearing near Idyllwild | cbs8.com

8/25/2020 News article & Video
https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/woman-missing-idyllwild-court-battle-multi-million-estate-dia-abrams-reward/509-fbfbebbd-4367-4ad8-a342-89f9bfcf39f8

"Court filings show Abrams was seeking to invalidate her prenuptial agreement she signed with her husband in 1984. She also was seeking more than $6.7 million dollars in assets from the estate to fund a marital trust."

"Through their attorneys, Clinton and Crisara Abrams filed an opposition to their mother’s probate petition. The attorneys declined to comment for this report."

BBM - Bolded by Me
MOO - My Own Opinion

So it looks like this is trust litigation regarding his restatement of his individual trust and she sought to change the trust as well as her prenup through this litigation- his trust created a marital trust upon his death so the marital trust pays her an income from what I read in the objection the kids filed to her petition. And this income wasn’t enough? - so IMO she decided that what she agreed to in the prenup wasn’t what she wanted even though she had 35 years to change it while he was living through a postnuptial agreement. I’m wondering what changed after his death that caused her to reconsider everything financially? Was she influenced By someone and her kids recognized this? Interesting that he named the kids successor co- trustees in his restatement and not her...
still catching up these are my initial thoughts and I haven’t gotten to her trust yet as I’m just on page 4
JMO

 

[SoHelpMeGod]

So it looks like this is trust litigation regarding his restatement of his individual trust and she sought to change the trust as well as her prenup through this litigation- his trust created a marital trust upon his death so the marital trust pays her an income from what I read in the objection the kids filed to her petition. And this income wasn’t enough?

Due to a change in tax law a significantly lower dollar value of income generating property was used to fund the marital trust than would have been if the change hadn't occurred.

 

[Desert Cruiser]

MOO I would guess that any prior litigation to Dias's disappearance would be put on hold?

 

[Desert Cruiser]

Would Dia leave the litigation upended and pending if she went into seclusion...

 

[Desert Cruiser]

$36M Worth Of Marijuana Discovered On 140 Acres East Of Temecula

 

[Desert Cruiser]

Can the trustees pursue the pre nup filing if Dia is not in the picture?
If so , is their a waiting period based on a missing person situation?

 

[coastal]

I looked that up but I'm on my phone so I can't link, sorry, briefly, though. Yes the trustees should proceed in the interest of the trust. IDK about missing people yet.

 

[oviedo]

I looked that up but I'm on my phone so I can't link, sorry, briefly, though. Yes the trustees should proceed in the interest of the trust. IDK about missing people yet.

They may be able to intervene on her behalf and the case restyled to her new trust and not her person -
JMO

 

[Curious Me]

I really want to know who the last trustworthy person to see Dia was, other than KH.

When was the last time Isidro saw Dia?

Where's that water heater guy that was suppose to verify KH's story of the morning Dia went missing?

Did the neighbor from the news article Diana S. see Dia that week?

I'm reconsidering what a few people have implied... that maybe Dia was missing longer and someone got a head start disappearing her.

 

[Curious Me]

CBS news reply...
dgotfredson@kfmb.com

Thank you, xxxxxx I have seen that review. So far, Ms. Fedder has declined to be interviewed on the record.
dgotfredson@kfmb.com | Web: cbs8.com
Office: 858-495-7555 | Fax: 858.560.0627

He's done an excellent job interviewing and investigating this case. When was the last time DF saw Dia? Why doesn't DF want to help find her friend and employer by giving an interview? I hope law enforcement or our wonderful CBS8 interviewer can find out when the last time Dia was seen. Did they ever find out if there was a real water heater guy?

 

[slowpoke]

snipped:

I'm reconsidering what a few people have implied... that maybe Dia was missing longer and someone got a head start disappearing her.

For that to be so might also mean that the texting back and forth at 4 pm that day was faked, that someone else used Dia’s phone to text to KH’s phone. I can’t think of a case offhand, but that kind of nefariousness has certainly been done before. Sure gives me a bad feeling.
—
Just a thought about Isidro. I’m remembering Isidro saying (cbs8 video) something about how he would feel scared at the Ranch after Dia disappeared, as if someone might come out and shoot him from a tree (paraphrasing). He said everyone had a gun there but him(self). Although he seemed to be happy working for Dia, maybe a part of him is relieved now to move on. Without Dia there, I don’t think he would ever feel safe or comfortable there now, working for a man he doesn’t trust, as he stated. Understandable!
MOO

 

[Desert Cruiser]

He's done an excellent job interviewing and investigating this case. When was the last time DF saw Dia? Why doesn't DF want to help find her friend and employer by giving an interview? I hope law enforcement or our wonderful CBS8 interviewer can find out when the last time Dia was seen. Did they ever find out if there was a real water heater guy?

I agree about DF should continue to be a stand up person and do a interview.
A friend is a friend no matter what.
Friends don't get thrown under a bus, MOO it looks like the bus is put in reverse at this point by silence...
Anyone can have a impeccable past, but it's a past, people and things can change...
Where are Dia's friends when it counts the most?