Paul D. Epstein is a lead attorney in Acuña ❖ Regli’s trust and estate litigation practice.
He joins Frank R. Acuña and Tracy S. Regli, adding more than 10 years “first chair” trial experience to the firm’s litigation department.
Paul’s practice focuses on trust and estate administration and litigation, and he has litigated accounting disputes, inheritance disputes, and lawsuits over the validity of disputed wills and trusts. Although he is a zealous trial advocate, Paul is also a skilled negotiator who will mediate and settle cases whenever appropriate.
Many of Paul’s cases involve questions of undue influence, fraud, forgery, capacity, financial elder abuse, and breach of fiduciary duty. One example of this is a 2017 trial in Alameda County in which Paul obtained a judgment for his clients which voided a deed and will codicil that would have undermined a failing elder’s long-standing estate plan. The judgment also awarded double damages and attorney’s fees and costs to Paul’s clients.
In the fall of 2020, Paul tried in San Francisco the first phase of partition action to force a sale of a multi-unit building, after which the matter settled with an agreement to buy out his client's interest.
Paul serves as court-appointed Personal Representative, Guardian Ad Litem and Special Master in probate and conservatorship cases. He is a former Board Member of East Bay Trusts and Estates Lawyers (EBTEL), having served as the Vice-Chair and Chair of EBTEL’s Litigation Committee and also as the organization’s Secretary and Vice-President. He is also a former EBTEL delegate to the California Conference of Bar Associations. Paul is also a member of the Alameda County and Contra Costa County Bar Associations.
Paul meets with clients at our Pleasant Hill office.