WASHINGTON, DC: Senior US Senator Dianne Feinstein has reportedly sued her late husband’s estate, alleging that she is being refused payment for "significant" medical costs. The 90-year-old California Democrat filed the suit in San Francisco Superior Court on Monday, July 17, asking the court to appoint her daughter Katherine Feinstein as a successor trustee of her husband Richard Blum’s trust.
In the suit, attorneys for Feinstein and Katherine claimed that the ailing senator had built up "significant" medical costs and sought payment from the marriage trust that her husband had set up in 1996. But despite Feinstein being the "sole income beneficiary" of the trust, "the purported trustees have refused to make distributions to reimburse her medical expenses," they claimed in the filing. The attorneys also alleged that the "purported trustees" Mark R Klein and Marc Scholvinck were not appointed in accordance with the conditions of the trust. “While seeking reimbursement for her medical expenses Senator Feinstein learned that Blum did not name the purported trustees in the 1996 Trust and they were not appointed in compliance with its terms,” the filing read, according to Los Angeles Times.
Who was Dianne Feinstein's husband?
Feinstein is now asking the court to appoint Katherine as a successor trustee who would control the trust, which includes a life insurance policy for Blum and its proceeds. The trust is worth between $1 million and $5 million, according to Feinstein’s Senate financial disclosures. Renowned investor Blum, who died in 2022, established the trust in 1996, with the intent to provide for his wife's welfare after his death. Blum, a graduate of Cal-Berkeley, founded the private equity firm Blum Capital in 1975 and married then-San Francisco Mayor Feinstein five years later. The marriage was the third for Feinstein and the second for Blum, who had three daughters with his first wife, Andrea Schwartz Blum.
Following Feinstein’s suit, an attorney for Klein and Scholvinck claimed that the trustees are "perplexed" by the allegations as they never denied any disbursement for the 90-year-old Feinstein, who was absent from the Senate for two-and-a-half months this year as she contended with shingles and other complications. "My clients are perplexed by this filing. Richard Blum's trust has never denied any disbursement to Senator Feinstein, let alone for medical expenses," Steven P. Braccini said in a statement, adding "while my clients are deeply concerned, we all remain hopeful that this is simply a misunderstanding that can be quickly resolved."
'We have not been presented with any evidence'
In Senator’s filings, Katherine, a former judge and member of the San Francisco Fire Commission, is the senator's "attorney in fact," or someone authorized to act on their behalf. But Braccini claimed that "We have not been presented with any evidence showing that Katherine Feinstein has power of attorney for her mother; nor has Katherine made it clear, either in this filing or directly to my clients, why a sitting United States senator would require someone to have power of attorney over her." Currently, Feinstein’s medical expenses are being covered by Medicare and the DC Health Link, which provides health plans for members of Congress.
