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the decedent's community property coins and each coin's appraised
value. The appraisal on the first statement totaled $5,200,673.
The appraisal on the second statement totaled $1,684,444.
Shortly after the decedent's death, Ken Lodgen (Mr. Lodgen),
the estate's accountant, informed the coexecutors that the
decedent may not have disclosed his entire gold coin collection
to Ms. Trompeter during the divorce proceeding, and that Ms.
Trompeter may have a claim against the estate with respect
thereto. On June 16, 1992, Mr. Lodgen, using only Mr. Stuppler's
first disclosure statement, supplied Mr. Levinson with a list
allegedly identifying community property coins that were not
disclosed to Ms. Trompeter during the divorce proceeding. Many
of the undisclosed coins set forth on Mr. Lodgen's list were
included in Mr. Stuppler's second disclosure statement, which
Mr. Lodgen did not know about when he compiled his list.
Based on the information provided by Mr. Lodgen, Ms.
Trompeter claimed that she was not told about the existence of
some of the decedent's gold coins acquired during their marriage,
and that these coins were community assets. On August 13, 1992,
she filed a creditor's claim against the estate in probate court.
This claim was denied. On or about September 24, 1992, she sued
the estate in the superior court, alleging, among other things,
that the decedent had fraudulently concealed coins valued in
excess of $10 million. Ten months later, the parties to that
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