Fiduciary Forensics: Trust Accountings, Surcharge, and Elder Financial Exploitation

Scott earned his Juris Doctor from the University of San Diego School of Law and holds a BA in Spanish & International Latin American Relations from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is admitted to practice as a member of the State Bar of California, the District of Columbia Bar, and the State Bar of Texas.

Scott has been consistently recognized for his work in trust and estate litigation by Chambers & Partners, Best Lawyers in America, and Super Lawyers. His effective solutions to the most fraught trust and estate fights have earned him recognition as "Trusts and Estates Litigator of the Year" from the Century City Bar Association, as well as honors from and features in Vanity Fair, Super Lawyers magazine, the Los Angeles Business Journal, and the National Law Journal. He has been named a "Top Estate & Wealth Management Lawyer" by the Daily Journal (Los Angeles, 2025), a "Leading Litigator in America" by Lawdragon (2025), and a Daily Journal Top 100 Lawyer (2024). His recognitions include Best Lawyers in America for Trusts and Estates & Litigation – Trusts and Estates (2018–2026); Chambers & Partners' High Net Worth Guide for Private Wealth Disputes (2021–2025); Super Lawyers' "Top 100 – Trust and Estate Litigation" (Southern California, 2017–2026); "Top Litigator" from the Los Angeles Business Journal's Leaders of Influence: Litigators & Trial Lawyers (2020–2025); "Legal Visionary" from the Los Angeles Times (2021–2023); Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America; Pasadena Top Attorneys 2024 (Pasadena Magazine); "Leaders of Influence: Thriving in Their 40s" (Los Angeles Business Journal, 2021); "Super Lawyer" recognition (Southern California, 2014–2026, and "Rising Star" since 2006); "Elite Boutique Trailblazer" (National Law Journal); an AV Preeminent® 5 out of 5 rating by Martindale-Hubbell; a "Superb 10" rating by Avvo; and "West Trailblazer" from The American Lawyer (2022). He is also President Emeritus of the Beverly Hills Estate Planning Council.

Scott is a member of the STEP Contentious Trusts and Estates Global SIG Steering Committee and President Emeritus of the Beverly Hills Estate Planning Council. He serves on the Publications Committee of the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils and is a Speaker/Member of the Beverly Hills Bar Association – Trusts and Estates Section, Private Client Global Elite, and the Society of Tax and Estate Planning Professionals (STEP) – Contentious Trusts and Estates Special Interest Group. He is a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association – Trusts & Estates Section, the California Lawyers Association, the Professional Fiduciary Association of California, the Independent Trustee Alliance, ProVisors, and the University of Wisconsin Alumni Association. He is a speaker for the California Society of CPAs, the Fiduciary Round Table of the San Gabriel Valley, and the Trusts and Estates Sections of the San Fernando Valley Bar Association, South Bay Bar Association, San Luis Obispo Bar Association, and Ventura County Bar Association, as well as the Woodland Hills Trust and Estate Planning Council. He is also a former Board Member of the California Alzheimer's Association, Southland Chapter.

Scott has protected his clients' rights in numerous parental, caregiver, and sibling disputes, will contests, and inheritance fights. His matters include securing a sizable judgment for an elderly woman whose deceased brother had been taken advantage of by an unscrupulous advisor; leading the investigation into a long-term, multi-million dollar fraud committed against a wealthy Middle Eastern family; defending a trustee accused of financial elder abuse and breach of fiduciary duty against her mother; and unwinding the undue influence of an interloping gardener and his caretaker wife on a 94-year-old woman to secure the family home intended for the client. He was parachuted into years-long international estate litigation to secure a favorable multinational and multijurisdictional outcome between a decedent's estranged children and his family. Among his representative matters, he won a petition for conservatorship of the estate on an emergency basis during Covid to protect a conservatee from fraudsters who had infiltrated, isolated, defrauded, and unduly influenced her into sending them millions; secured the estate of a client's late father who had been victimized by childhood friends who forged estate planning documents; and secured the return of a client's home value after her daughter and son-in-law took the home under the guise of "helping" her. He neutralized a hostile co-trustee seeking to bilk a client's trust of millions through fabricated claims; secured removal of a thieving co-trustee, including recovery of stolen assets, attorney fees, and costs; and recovered the home of an infirm, institutionalized senior victimized by an opportunistic volunteer at his care facility. Within 45 days of engagement, he secured 125% of a client's original bequests, plus attorney's fees and costs, after an 85-year-old decedent's new husband manipulated trust amendments; he ended a years-long dispute over trust property between feuding siblings; recovered a disinherited beneficiary family's full interest in a great-aunt's estate procured through financial elder abuse during her incapacity; secured no action from regulatory authorities in an enforcement action threatening a decades-long professional's license and career; and secured, on behalf of a court-appointed guardian ad litem, a prosecution agreement leading to the permanent bar of a financial advisor who had taken advantage of an institutionalized dementia patient.