Mar. 11, 2026
Court of appeal restricts suits involving tortious interference with inheritance
Courts have long confined intentional interference with expected inheritance to situations lacking a probate remedy. In Halperin v. Halperin, California narrows that path even further, reinforcing probate as the primary forum for inheritance disputes.
Mark J. Phillips
Shareholder
Lewitt Hackman
Email: mphillips@lewitthackman.com
Mark is a certified specialist in estate planning, trust & probate law by the State Bar of California.
In the last decades, courts have recognized as tortious conduct the intentional interference by one person in the expected inheritance of another. The tort was first articulated in the Restatement (Second) of Torts in 1979 at section 774B as follows: One who by fraud, duress or other tortiou...
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