California Bar Journal
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE STATE BAR OF CALIFORNIA - JUNE 2002
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IMPORTANT NOTICE: This article is provided solely for research and archival purposes. MCLE self-study credit is no longer available. Even if you follow the instructions and submit payment you will not be granted MCLE self-study credit. Please note that low-cost MCLE is provided by the California Lawyers Association, pursuant to Business and Professions Code section 6056.

MCLE SELF-STUDY

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Self-Assessment Test
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Answer the following questions after reading the MCLE article on guardianship provisions. Use the answer form provided to send the test, along with a $20 processing fee, to the State Bar. If you do not receive your certificate within four weeks, call Ibrahim Bah at 415/538-2028.


1. A child's earnings under a court approved contract to perform in a feature film approved prior to Jan. 1, 2000, belong to the minor's parents.

2. A child's modeling contract with K-Mart is subject to the Coogan Law.

3. All of the earnings of a minor under a contract described in Family Code §6750 are subject to the guardianship law as set forth in the California Probate Code.

4. A minor's contract under §6750 may be disaffirmed by the minor if it is not approved by the court.

5. Monies set aside in a Coogan account under the minor's contract are not subject to Probate Court jurisdiction in the minor's guardianship.

6. The parents of a minor who has performed in a few successful commercials, has earned a total of $4,000 (after taxes) and is about to sign a new contract under which she will receive $2,000 need not file a petition with the Probate Court to determine how to hold those funds.

7. The most business flexibility and legal certainty when dealing with highly paid minors in a rock band is provided by a probate guardianship.

8. A minor rock star cannot enter into a mutually binding (non-disaffirmable) contract with a music industry manager without a guardian being appointed to represent his estate.

9. If the parents of a successful minor playwright have been appointed guardians of her estate, they can pay themselves fees as her literary agent if the Probate Court has approved their agency agreement.

10. With prior Probate Court approval, a minor's guardian may purchase a residence for the minor and his or her family with the minor's estate, even if the purchase requires encumbering the property with a purchase money first trust deed.

11. A minor who is living temporarily in Los Angeles County may have a guardianship established there for his or her estate.

12. A guardian of a minor's estate must be bonded for an amount of the guardian's own choosing.

13. A guardian may pay legal fees due to his child's entertainment attorney without prior court approval.

14. A guardian must file an annual accounting to the Probate Court of all of his or her receipts and disbursements, reporting all purchases, sales and other transactions and requesting compensation for themselves and their attorneys.

15. The most significant change in the Coogan Law in January 2000, was that all of a minor's earnings under a contract described in Family Code §6750 now belong to the minor and not to his or her parents.

16. A guardian who discloses all transactions in a regularly filed accounting may not be held liable for fully disclosed transactions with no fraud involved, even after the minor attains majority.

17. Without a guardianship, a minor may form a valid personal service corporation and enter into a non-disaffirmable contract with the loan out company and the loan out with the production company, if the contracts are court approved.

18. The natural parents of a minor may be appointed guardians of his or her estate without a noticed hearing in Los Angeles County.

19. The Probate Court may authorize all of the minor's funds to be held and invested under a custodianship under the California Uniform Transfers to Minors Act.

20. Now that the minor owns his or her earnings under a contract described in Family Code §6750, the Coogan Law protects the production companies more than minors.