I was just reading a question on a legal question-and-answer website about contesting a living trust. The inheritance for the beneficiary of the trust had been significantly reduced, and the questioner wanted to know who pays for attorney’s fees and costs in an unsuccessful contest. I felt I should write about this because there can [...]
I was just reading on a legal website about how an uncle held a power of attorney over the deceased grandmother, and now the uncle is excluding certain family members from attending the grandmother's funeral. It sounds like that family had some major issues with one another to get to the point that one family [...]
Many of you may have heard about California allowing property owners to designate a “Transfer on Death” designation to automatically transfer ownership of a piece of real property as of January 1, 2016. This new “Transfer on Death” deed works a lot like a “Payable on Death” designation on a bank or other financial account [...]
I admit I am pretty young and had these exact same thoughts when I was just getting out of college. I wasn’t married and had no kids. What did I have to worry about? Estate planning is for folks that actually have something, right? If you are 18 years or older and can make your [...]
You worked so hard to save your money. You put plenty away for your retirement, you paid off your home, and your financial house is in order. It took years of sacrifice and planning to put these things together. You did such a great job that your kids will have a good head start getting [...]
I remember a few years ago when I was a third-year law student, I put together a very basic estate plan for myself. I went over to a relative’s house to have my will witnessed, and the relative asked why I was preparing a will and estate documents. It was a good question, as I [...]
Over the Christmas holiday, I started thinking about our family’s real estate investments and other families in similar situations. As I mentioned in my personal bio, I grew up in the real estate investment business by working with my dad in his rental homes, gutting them, painting walls, and the like. My parents have several [...]
What does an executor do? I get this question a lot from people who are curious about what an executor of an estate does especially if the decedent's estate will need to be probated. An executor is a person nominated in someone's will who is in charge of finalizing or finishing out the decedent’s business [...]
Modest estates that use a small estate affidavit can save a family and beneficiaries time and money by avoiding the probate process of transferring title of small assets, particularly assets such as bank accounts and other personal property less than $50,000. However, beneficiaries need to be careful about using small estate affidavits, as they have [...]
I have seen this question a lot. A loved one creates a Durable Power of Attorney in the case of incapacity so a family member can handle the financial affairs of the incapacitated principal. The agent to act may come into my office saying the loved one did not prepare a living trust or even [...]
