YOLO COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION

P.O. Box 1903

Woodland, CA 95776 www.yolobar.com

Newsletter December 2003

There will be no DECEMBER BAR MEETING
As the board will be meeting instead to plan for the 2004 year. All interested members are invited to be present at the board meeting on December 11 at noon, Gregory's Restaurant in Woodland.

The January Bar Meeting will be held on January 22, 2004 and the program will be the annual Judge's Lunch and YCBA election.

OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION SUBMITTED BY MEMBERS (Please submit information to Lisa Lance no later than the first Friday of the month)

1) Please make sure to update any email information to Lisa (Llance@yolocounty.org) by the end of the year. If you are an attorney in an office where other attorneys have not been receiving the email newsletters, please send me their email addresses. I know there are new attorneys at the DA's Office, Public Defender's Office, and perhaps County Counsel's Office. If so, please submit their individual email address to me so I can include them on the email list for 2004 newsletters. It is also the time of year to send in your membership form with dues. Please submit the same to the Office of Jim Nolan. A membership form is included below for your convenience, or can be opened by clicking on this link:

2) Election for YCBA Officers will be held at the January 22, 2004 meeting. Nominations will be taken from the floor at the January meeting. Offered for members' approval will be the following slate of officers:

President-	Barry Melton

Vice President-	Jim Nolan

Treasurer-	Lisa Lance

Secretary-	Courtney McKeon

Any member wishing to contest the current nominations should be prepared to do so, and those who would offer their candidacy as an alternative to the named nominees should be in attendance.

3) Submitted by Court Staff:

NEW PHONE NUMBERS FOR DEPARTMENT 11

Civil Law and Motion, Probate and Family Law cases are being heard before the Honorable Thomas E. Warriner, in the newly renovated Department 11. Department 11 is located at 812 Court Street. Hearings begin at 8:30 a.m., Monday through Friday. Please note the new phone numbers for Connie Sanchez, Courtroom Clerk, (530) 669-2301 and Piper Noto, Courtroom Clerk, (530) 669-2302. They are available to answer your questions regarding continuances and other matters.

Newspapers of General Circulation:

Daily Democrat*	711 Main St	Woodland 95695
530/662-5421

Davis Enterprise	315 G St	Davis 95616
530/756-0800

News-Ledger	816 Westacre Rd	West Sacramento 95691
916/371-8030

West Sacramento Press	834 D Jefferson Blvd	West Sacramento 95691
916/371-2397

Winters Express	312 Railroad Ave	Winters 95694
530/795-4551

* The Daily Democrat has also been adjudged a newspaper of general circulation in Davis.

Numbers to Know:

Civil Division	530/666-8170	Filing petitions, calendaring hearings, fees, general questions.

John Lauricella	530/662-7396	Court Investigator for Conservatorships, Guardianships, etc.

Alice Meserve	530/661-0667	Court Investigator for Conservatorships, Guardianships, etc.

Robert Millsap	530/662-9143	Probate Referee

Probate Notes	530/666-8584	www.yolocourts.com

Points to Ponder:

1.	Probate Notes are available on-line and on the phone line by 2:00pm of the day before the hearing, at the latest. These are not to be confused with tentative rulings. They do not automatically become the order of the court, they are merely recommendations.

2.	The parties are expected to appear at the hearing. If the recommendation in the Probate Notes is favorable, contact the clerk in the department where the matter is to be held. At the judges' discretion, the party may not have to appear and the matter may be submitted on the pleadings.

3.	It is recommended to have an order in the file prior to the hearing. This will result in a more efficient hearing and a quicker disposition.

4.	The Court Investigator is an independent contractor and will not automatically be appointed. It is the responsibility of the party to arrange the appointment, scheduling, and verify the filing of the report occurred.

5.	The publication must occur in the city of residence of the decedent, pursuant to Probate Code §8121. This can be a particular problem when the decedent's residence is in West Sacramento, as many papers are not considered of general circulation in West Sacramento.

6.	Local Rules 16.5 and 16.6 require an itemized accounting of extraordinary fees and costs requested, even if there has been a general waiver of accounting.

7.	Yolo County Local Rules are available at www.yolocourts.com.

8.	Just a reminder, as of August 17, 2003 a new form for a petition for probate administration was adopted for mandatory use by the Judicial Council. This form is available online at www.courtinfo.ca.gov.

YCBA 2003 MEETING SCHEDULE

Mark your schedules for the entire year. Normally, the YCBA Meetings are at Noon on the third Thursday of each month. Here are the upcoming dates:

December 18, CANCELLED

January 22, 2004-noon-Annual Judge's Lunch and election of YCBA officers

Your 2003 YCBA Officers:

DeKristie Adams, President (530) 750-1919 or dekristi@omsoft.com

Barry Melton, Vice President (530) 666-8165 or bmelton@yolocounty.org

Jim Nolan, Treasurer (530) 662-2859 or jvnolan@yololaw.com

Lisa Lance, Secretary (530) 304-6111 or llance@yolocounty.org

Please contact Lisa Lance if you have not submitted your 2003 Renewal/Membership Application and paid your dues and she will send out an application to your office. This is the eighth newsletter sent out in email format. If you have any problems with reading this newsletter, please contact Lisa as well. For those persons still receiving your newsletter by mail, please advise Lisa of your email address if you do not wish to have her send the newsletter to you via email rather than mail. Thank you for assisting your bar association with this changeover.