Senator Dianne Feinstein’s family feud over the extreme wealth left behind by her late husband, Richard Blum, was on full display for the first time in a San Francisco courtroom Monday, before a judge ordered private mediation that will drag on into next year.

As has become clear from multiple lawsuits filed in recent months, the dispute involves millions of dollars in assets and several valuable properties, including a multimillion-dollar beach house north of San Francisco and a city mansion worth more than $20 million. Blum died in February 2022.

Katherine Feinstein, the senator’s daughter from a previous marriage who has power of attorney for her 90-year-old mother in legal matters, has argued that her mother owes millions in payments from Blum’s estate and now needs the money to cover medical bills. cover. Blum’s trustees have said his estate is incredibly complex and tied to investments, and they need more time to review his assets, tax liabilities and debts before making substantial payments.

The hearing did not answer the question of what those assets will ultimately be like

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but made one thing clear: the various parties of the Democratic senator of California, her daughter, the trustees overseeing Blum’s estate and Blum’s three daughters from a previous marriage are at odds and remain in poor communication closed doors, even on the most fundamental issues.

Neither the senator nor the trustees appeared in court. Katherine Feinstein appeared via video link, as did a lawyer for the Blum sisters.

Retired San Luis Obispo County Superior Court Judge Roger Picquet, who was specifically assigned to hear the case after San Francisco judges recused themselves from the case, began the hearing by asking the parties whether mediation would be open to all was acceptable or that he would “distort people’s interests”. arms” by ordering it.

When such cases cannot be mediated privately and a judge has to intervene, neither party walks away happy, Picquet said.

Steven P. Braccini, an attorney for Blum’s trustees, said he agreed that the case “cries out for private mediation” but that Katherine Feinstein, a former

San Francisco

right

herself

“do not agree with.”

John Hartog, an attorney for the Feinsteins, immediately pushed back, saying Braccini was “mistaken” and that his clients were “more than happy” to proceed with mediation.

But, he said, the Feinsteins also wanted a few other things in the meantime.

Hartog asked Picquet to order the trustees to sell the couple’s Stinson Beach home, in which the senator and Blum’s estate each have a 50% interest, and place the proceeds in an escrow account so that interest could be earned as the mediation continued.

He also asked Picquet to order the trustees to provide a full accounting of their work to process the estate to date.

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that the proposed mediation could be more productive.

The requests echoed arguments made by Katherine Feinstein on behalf of her mother in the underlying petitions, in which she said her mother has been left in the dark in trust matters and wants to sell the Stinson Beach property because she no longer uses it and does not want to do so. continue to pay for maintenance.

Hartog said the trustees have a fiduciary duty to “make unproductive real estate productive,” and that requires selling the Stinson Beach home. If this does not happen, Hartog says, it will have tax consequences that are detrimental to the senator.

“There is no doubt that the maintenance of the building costs money,” says Hartog.

Braccini responded by stating that Katherine Feinstein had produced

zero no

There is no evidence yet as to why selling the Stinson Beach house was the right money-making move, so her arguments fail.

He said the trustees were still trying to determine Blum’s estate taxes and debts. He said the assessment of the Stinson Beach home was also made difficult because Katherine Feinstein or someone on her behalf “locked the house.” [the trustees] out” from the house, something Hartog denied.

Braccini said that Katherine Feinstein has used the argument that her independently wealthy mother needs payouts from Blum’s estate to pay medical bills as a “pretext” to demand payouts, and that there is “no evidence of what the senator wants” in the file.

Feinstein’s health has been a major political issue in recent months, with critics suggesting she is too weak to do her job. She was hospitalized earlier this year with shingles and also suffered from encephalitis, a swelling of the brain that caused her to miss dozens of voices. She still requires care and has repeatedly appeared in public looking disheveled, but is now back in Washington and is expected to continue helping Democrats confirm liberal judges proposed by President Biden as voting members of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee .

The lawsuit over her husband’s assets has exposed Feinstein’s private affairs during the final chapter of a long, otherwise polished political career. She has served in the Senate since 1992 and previously served as mayor of San Francisco.

Feinstein’s office has declined to make her available to speak about the lawsuit, calling it a private matter.

Picquet asked several questions during Monday’s hearing, including whether it was reasonable for Feinstein to expect some kind of payout, even if it wasn’t from the sale of the Stinson Beach home, since it’s been more than a year since her husband’s death.

That’s why Adam Pines, an attorney for the Blum sisters, said the Stinson Beach estate is “unique” and that there are other ways to make payments to the senator without selling the house.

For example, Pines said Feinstein currently owns about 83% of her primary residence in San Francisco, a three-story townhouse on the Lyon Street Steps, right next to the Presidio, which has been assessed at more than $21 million, while Blum’s estate owns the remaining stake.

The Blum estate’s minority share of the Lyon Street home is worth more than the 50% share of the Stinson Beach home, Pines said, and what is owed to the senator in payments might be paid out as an additional percentage ownership in the Lyon Street house. house instead of through a sale of the Stinson Beach home.

Pines’ argument suggested the Blum sisters have an interest in keeping the Stinson Beach home.

After hearing from all sides, Picquet declined to order the sale of the house, but ordered private mediation and ordered the trustees to provide the Feinsteins with at least a partial accounting of the estate and their work to date to settle it.

“There needs to be some accountability for some credibility,” Picquet said.

In consultation with the parties, Picquet has also drawn up a schedule with which the mediation must be completed by December at the latest. 11, unless an extension is requested, and a second hearing on January 22. That schedule will apply to all three separate petitions filed in the case, he said.

Attorneys for the trustees and the Feinsteins declined to comment after the hearing.