I have come across this question a lot about whether an agent under a power of attorney can delegate his or her powers to someone else. The agent, often an older son or daughter, was selected by the principal to carry out the duties in the power of attorney. But often, the principal never even [...]
I’ve seen a lot of stories about individuals and families who purchase properties at a county tax sale. From time to time in California, you will see public sale notices from county assessors to sell property for unpaid property taxes. The county conducts a tax sale to recover the unpaid property taxes due on the [...]
I was just reading a legal question-and-answer website about a couple who was dating and wanted to know when they needed to update their wills. The couple has a basic will plan, but they plan on getting married and having kids within the next few years. It sounds like this couple is on the ball [...]
I come across this question a lot: I am a beneficiary of a will or trust and I am either the personal representative of the estate or the trustee of the trust. Can I use money in the trust for my own personal purposes? After all, I am entitled to the money I am taking [...]
I think everyone would agree that it is very expensive to buy Bay Area real estate, especially right now. You may be thinking that you will never be able to buy a home due to the current prices. But you may also be thinking that if you pitch in some money with your relatives, you [...]
I was just reading a legal question-and-answer site about a family who could not find their estate planning documents. They wanted to know what to do. Apparently, the family had done their estate planning quite a while ago, and the relative in question had just passed away. Now the family is furiously tearing up the [...]
As many of you know, the housing market in the Bay Area has been, in one word, “crazy” with a shortage of housing units available for sale and rent. I was recently out and about looking at properties for sale when I spotted a big sign in the front yard of one of the listings. [...]
On a legal website, I recently read a question asked by a child who wanted to know what is going to happen to her mother’s estate when she died. The child mentioned that the county, through a public guardian, had a conservatorship over the mother. The child also stated that the county had created a [...]
I get this all the time with clients who are landlords. If only I would have taken the time to order a credit report. If only I would have checked references. If only I would have required a full security deposit and not taken it in payments. If only … I would not be experiencing [...]
I was recently reviewing a living trust estate plan for an individual. The plan had been outdated for quite some time. As I was reviewing this individual’s plan, I noticed that most of the plan was from the 1990s. But the pages were not all the same color or format, which indicated that pages had [...]
