With more than 30 years of experience, Ellen McKissock has litigated hundreds of cases covering every aspect of trust and estate litigation, with a focus on disputes involving financial elder abuse, invalidating marriages and will and trust contests.

Ellen is a highly respected member of the California legal community and is regarded as a practical trusts and estates litigator who achieves successful results for her clients through skillful negotiation, strategic counsel and skillful trial work.

In addition to numerous trials, Ellen represents clients at the appellate level and has three published opinions. She was also the Chair of Hopkins Carley’s Trust & Estate Litigation practice group from 2007-2024.

Ellen is currently a Fellow of the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel (ACTEC). She is a past Chair of TEXCOM, the Trusts & Estates Section of the California Lawyers Association and assisted in drafting AB 328 which amended Probate Code Sections 21380, 21382 and 21611 to protect elders from predatory marriages. She was Editor in Chief of The Quarterly. Ellen is also a respected speaker and author, giving several seminars a year throughout California.

Areas of Focus

Services

Sectors

Experience

  • Defensed a $400 million claim brought against trustees by beneficiary claiming they failed to properly diversify the trust.
  • Successfully voided marriage post-death
  • Challenged and successfully voided a marriage after death. A financial predator had married an elder to secure his estate.

  • Successfully defended a trustee from claims by a remainder beneficiary that elderly income beneficiary lacked mental capacity to manage funds distributed to him by the trustee.
  • Obtained a swift decision protecting a client’s interest in an estate where a third party claimed interference with his expected inheritance.
  • Following extensive forensic accounting, secured multi-million dollar settlement for clients where trustee had funneled partnership and trust assets to himself through overpayments.

Credentials

Education

  • University of California - Hastings (J.D.)
  • University of California - Berkeley (B.A., Journalism, with honors)
  • University of California - Berkeley (B.A., Political Science, with honors)

Admissions

Bar Admissions

  • California, 1983

Recognitions

  • The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), Fellow
  • Selected among The Best Lawyers in America©, Trusts and Estates, 2018-2025
    • Northern California Lawyer of the Year, 2019
  • Thomson Reuters, "Northern California Super Lawyers®," 2008-2024
  • YMCA Twin Award, Tribute to Women, 2008
  • Charter School of Morgan Hill, Appreciation Award, 2001
  • Women Lawyer’s Committee, Appreciation Award, 1996

Presentations

  • “Marrying Into Elder Abuse,” CLA Webinar, October 2022
  • “Care Custodians and Spouses: New Legislation Affecting Their Rights," CLA Webinar, March 2020
  • “Advanced Estate Planning, Litigation Issues,” Pincus Professional Education, September 2016

  • “Protecting Seniors From Abusive Marriages,” February 2015, September 2014
  • “Attorneys’ Fees in Probates, Trusts and Conservatorships,” May 2014
  • “Marrying Into Elder Abuse,” May 2014
  • “He’s in Love With Her! A Mock Trial,” Petitioner’s Attorney, October 2012
  • “Confidential Marriage: The Latest Tool for Elder Abuse,” March 2012
  • CEB: “Practical Problems in Trust Administration,” January 2012
  • “Matters that Hit the Wallet: A Comprehensive Overview of Attorney’s Fees in Probate,” October 2011
  • “The Probate Process From Start to Finish (Litigating the Case in Probate Court),” March 2010
  • “The Carrot and the Stick – The New No Contest Clause Statute,” Fall 2009
  • “Almost Everything You Wanted to Know About Nearly Every Statute of Limitations, in an Hour,” May 2010, April 2009

Publications

  • “Marrying into Elder Abuse,” California Trusts and Estates Quarterly, Spring 2016
  • “If You Can’t Swindle Them, Marry Them,” Daily Journal, April 2014
  • “Obliterating the Hasso Decision: New Legislation Protects Remainder Beneficiaries but Gives Income Beneficiaries a Run for Their Money,” California Trusts and Estates Quarterly, Vol. 19, Issue 3, 2013

Professional Activities

  • Trusts & Estates Section Executive Committee of the California State Bar (TexCom)
    • Executive Committee, 2013-Present
      • Former Chair
    • Incapacity Subcommittee, Chair, 2018-2019
    • Litigation Subcommittee, Chair, 2017-2018
    • The Quarterly, past Editor in Chief, 2016-2017
  • Silicon Valley Bar Association
    • President, Board of Trustees, 2014‑2015
    • Board of Trustees, 2011-2017
    • Chair Executive Committee, 2009-2011
    • Education Subcommittee Chair, 2008‑2009