Judge orders high-stakes Feinstein family feud out of court

investmentnews.com:

A judge ordered a high-stakes family feud over the finances of US Senator Dianne Feinstein, the powerful 90-year-old California Democrat, to be moved out of court for private negotiations.

Since early this summer, the fight has been playing out publicly between the families of two of San Francisco’s storied power brokers: Feinstein, who built a political dynasty over decades, and her wealthy husband Richard Blum, the co-founder of private equity firm Blum Capital Partners, who died last year and left much of his fortune to her in a marital trust. 

Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, during a Senate Intelligence Committee nomination hearing for National Security Agency (NSA) director nominee Timothy Haugh in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, July 12, 2023. Haugh would replace outgoing NSA Director Paul Miki Nakasone if confirmed. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg

At a hearing Monday in San Francisco, retired Judge Roger T. Picquet told lawyers for both sides, “I love making decisions, don’t get me wrong.” But private mediation, he said, where the two parties work our their differences outside of court, often produces more satisfying results. 

“If any case deserves an honest appraisal of mediation, this case does,” he said.

The dispute centers on how trustees are handling the Blum marital trust, whose beneficiaries include his three daughters from his prior marriage. Feinstein’s daughter from an earlier marriage, Katherine Feinstein, has attacked those trustees in lawsuits, claiming in part that they engaged in “elder financial abuse” for withholding $169,055 in medical expenses requested by her mother. 

While the judge urged a settlement, the hearing signaled the two sides have a long way to go to resolve