Matthew Bender Practice Guide: California Trust Litigation

John A. Hartog is a California certified specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law, as well as a California certified specialist in Taxation Law. Mr. Hartog’s practice emphasizes estate planning, trust and probate administration, including dispute resolution, and taxation matters. Mr. Hartog possesses particular expertise in counseling trustees administering living trusts and in resolving disputes among beneficiaries and fiduciaries.

Mr. Hartog was admitted to the Bar in 1979. He earned an L.L.M. in Taxation from the Golden Gate University of Law in 1984; his J.D. degree from Hastings College of the Law, University of California, in 1979; and his B.A. degree, cum laude, from Pomona College in 1974.

Mr. Hartog is a Fellow of the American College of Trusts and Estates Counsel. Mr. Hartog is a past Chair of the Executive Committee of the Trusts & Estates Section of the California State Bar. He is also a past Chair of the Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law Advisory Commission to the Board of Legal Specialization of the California State Bar. Mr. Hartog has served as a Lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley Law School (Boalt Hall) where he taught "Wills and Trusts."

He has been selected to the Super Lawyers® Top 100 list by his peers for twelve consecutive years. He has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America by his peers for ten consecutive years. He has also been selected by Worth Magazine as one of "America's Top 100 Lawyers" for three consecutive years.

Mr. Hartog is the lead consulting editor for the Matthew Bender publication California Trust Litigation, released in March 2011. Mr. Hartog is a co-author of California Trust Practice, released by Matthew Bender in November 1996, and updated annually thereafter. Mr. Hartog is the lead consulting editor and a co-author for the Matthew Bender publication California Wills & Trusts, a multi-volume treatise; he is also a legal consultant to the California Wills and Trusts document assembly program. The treatise and document assembly program were originally released in September 1991 and have been updated annually thereafter. He is a past Executive Editor of the California Trusts & Estates Quarterly, the journal of the Trusts & Estates Section of the California State Bar.

Mr. Hartog has written numerous articles for a variety of professional publications. He has spoken widely on topics concerning trusts and estates law at professional continuing education programs from Boston to Honolulu, from Seattle to New Orleans, and throughout California.

Mr. Hartog is a member of the Alameda County, Contra Costa County, and American Bar Associations. Mr. Hartog is a member of the Tax Section and the Trusts & Estates Law Section of the State Bar of California. He is also a member of the Taxation Section, and Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section of the American Bar Association. Mr. Hartog is admitted to practice before the California Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the United States Tax Court, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, and the New York State Court of Appeals.

Shirley L. Kovar’s practice focuses on complex trust and estate disputes, including international trusts and estates litigation. Ms. Kovar is a Certified Specialist in Trusts and Estates, by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. She is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), where she has chaired the Transfer Tax Study Committee. In this capacity she gave oral and written testimony before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee on federal estate tax reform in April 2008. She is presently a member of ACTEC’s Litigation Committee. She has served as Chair of the Litigation Committee for the Executive Committee of the State Bar Trusts and Estates Section (TEXCOM), where she also served as the Liaison between TEXCOM and the California Law Revision Commission on no contest clause reform. Ms. Kovar is also an Academician in the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law. Her international activities have included a presentation on settlement agreements to international attorneys in Salzburg, Austria. She has been selected as a SuperLawyer (top 5 percent of lawyers in Southern California) from 2007 (when the award was first given) through 2010. Other honors include election to the Board of Governors of the University of Kansas Law School (two terms). Ms. Kovar has twice given presentations at the Annual Meeting of ACTEC Fellows, as well as other numerous CLE presentations, including the University of Southern California Annual Conference. She has written extensively in the areas of trusts and estates disputes and federal estate tax reform. Ms. Kovar graduated in 1974 from the University of Kansas Law School, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif, as Editor-in-Chief of the Kansas Law Review, and was co-recipient of the Samuel Mellinger Award, awarded by the law faculty for Leadership, Scholarship and Service, and by the University of Kansas as Outstanding Woman Graduate in Academics for all graduate schools at the University of Kansas.