A: There are two different exclusions that allow you to avoid gift tax: the annual gift tax exclusion ($15,000 per year in 2021 and $16,000 per year in 2022) and the lifetime gift tax exclusion amount ($11.7 million in 2021 and $12.06 million in 2022). When you gift...
A: Yes and no. Although Prop 19 did drastically change the rules regarding transfers between parents and children (many of these types of transfers in the future will cause a property tax increase), it did NOT eliminate the Prop 13 benefits that all property owners...
A: Yes! Remember, the trust is like a picnic basket that the attorney gives you, and although the attorney will typically transfer business interests and real estate into your trust for you, you will almost always be required to personally make arrangements with your...
A: Probate Code Section 16000 et seq. lays out ALL of the duties trustees have, and there are MANY. Having said that, the most common mistakes made by Successor Trustee are the following: selling assets for below-market value, failing to provide an accounting,...
A: Trustees owe a fiduciary duty to always act in the trust beneficiaries’ best interests. If a trustee doesn't do everything in accordance with the law, he or she can be personally liable to the beneficiaries for any financial damage the Successor Trustee's actions...
A: Probate Code Section 8461 is very clear that a surviving spouse (subject to some very rare exceptions) will ALWAYS have priority over a child! If you would prefer that your child be the administrator versus your spouse, make sure to execute a valid will!
A: Yes, a trust is highly recommended any time a minor child would be inheriting more than $5,000. This is because the Probate Code requires court petitions and ongoing judicial supervision any time minor inherits more than $5,000. The ONLY way to avoid the court...
A: Statutory probate fees are based on the "gross" value of the assets, not the "net" value. Here, the fees will unfortunately be based on the $750,000 amount, and NOT the $250,000 amount of equity in the house. Therefore, the total statutory fees will be $36,000 to...
A: There are three main reasons to avoid probate in California: First, it is an expensive process. The statutory fees in a probate are set by law as a percentage of the gross value of the assets of the estate. For estates between $500,000-$1,000,000, the statutory...
A: Yes, you need to address your digital assets in your estate plan. Federal laws generally prohibit online account service providers from granting access to your electronic communications to anyone other than you without your legal consent. That means that email...
