Opinion work should be careful, bounded, and record-based.
Expert work is not marketing biography. It requires a clear scope of engagement, a defined record, and opinions tied to the documents and governing law. Goldkuhl, LLP provides consulting and expert-witness services in probate, trust, fiduciary, estate-planning, elder financial abuse, and attorney-fee matters.
Subject matter areas.
- California estate planning, trust drafting, trust interpretation, probate administration, and estate administration.
- Trustee, executor, administrator, attorney-in-fact, and professional fiduciary duties.
- Trust and probate litigation, including petitions for instructions, contested accountings, removal or surcharge claims, will and trust contests, capacity, undue influence, and financial elder abuse.
- Reasonableness of attorney’s fees and availability of qualified counsel in estate, probate, trust, fiduciary, and financial elder abuse matters.
Representative expert-witness and opinion-witness experience.
Mr. Goldkuhl’s expert-witness background includes civil and criminal matters, deposition testimony in a civil professional-fiduciary matter, felony jury-trial testimony for the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, and expert/declarant work in financial elder abuse litigation.
| People v. Sabich-Robison Zorka Buhler matter | Sacramento County Superior Court No. 05F03794. Expert witness at felony jury trial for the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office involving elder theft/financial exploitation, fiduciary authority, trust issues, and attorney-in-fact issues. Trial testimony only; not appellate work. |
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| Akel v. Robertson | Placer County Superior Court Case No. SCV0045534. Retained expert in a civil professional-fiduciary matter; deposition taken July 25, 2022; matter settled on the eve of trial. |
| Williams v. National Western Life Insurance Company | Financial elder abuse/annuity litigation in which Mr. Goldkuhl served as an expert/declarant regarding financial elder abuse expert-witness experience and attorney-fee/rate issues. |
| Expert rate | $600.00 per hour unless otherwise agreed in writing. |
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| Scope | Consulting, review, preparation, declaration/report work, deposition, and testimony within defined engagement terms. |