Many general civil litigators, at some point, will find themselves in probate court litigating a dispute among the trustees and beneficiaries of a family trust. It may be a petition to hold the trustee accountable for mismanagement, or it may be a petition to construe a trust’s terms. The civil litigator venturing into probate court will find that, in areas like discovery, the Probate Code simply adopts the Code of Civil Procedure’s rules. There are some procedural issues, however, that civil litigators must approach differently in probate court. At the top of this list is the timing and availability of the “interlocutory” appeal.

Appeals in civil actions are subject to California’s “one judgement rule.” Under this rule, litigants can only appeal a final judgment that disposes of all the claims and defenses asserted in the case. Thus, a plaintiff who asserts multiple causes of action against a defendant and who loses one of those causes of action on summary adjudication cannot appeal that order until the court enters a final judgment that disposes all the claims in the plaintiff’s complaint. While there are statutory exceptions to the one judgment rule, the vast majority of orders issued during the course of a civil action are not immediately appealable.

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