A: You should strongly consider hiring an experienced trusts and estates attorney. Whether you are the acting successor trustee during the lifetime of the person who created the trust or after he or she has passed, you have a number of fiduciary duties to fulfill and...
A: Not at all! Since the Settlors (the name given to the clients that create the trust) are able to exercise absolute control, dominion and discretion as to all the assets of the trust, no separate EIN will be required, and you will not have to file any separate tax...
A: There may be times in life when it is appropriate to go with the cheapest option, and estate planning should not be one of them. Most of our clients tell us that one of the things they value the most is the peace of mind in knowing that their documents have all...
A: Under the California Probate Code, if a minor inherits more than $5,000, then a formal court custodianship must be opened and administered by the Court until the child turns 18, at which time any remaining funds would be delivered outright (with no restrictions) to...
A: A basket is actually a great way to conceptualize the way a living trust works! Think of a living trust as a basket with a set of instructions on the inside. This set of instructions declares what is to happen with all of the assets inside the basket upon the death...
A: You should also specify in the trust document who the contingent beneficiaries of your assets will be! If you don’t specify the contingent beneficiary, the Probate Code will decide who receives the deceased beneficiary’s inheritance - the default rule is known as...
A: Section 254 of the Probate Code states that any person who feloniously and intentionally kills someone is not entitled to benefit monetarily in any way from the death they intentionally caused. The most famous example of this in California was the matter of Scott...
A: Not if you have the home in a living trust! While your home can be subject to a Medi-Cal recovery claim after your death, as of 2017, Medi-Cal can only go after assets in your name upon your death; the trick here is that if you create a living trust and transfer...
While there isn’t necessarily a need to draft estate planning documents differently from heterosexual spouses, LGBTQ+ couples should make a pointed effort to review their existing estate planning documents, especially those drafted before 2015. You want to be sure...
A: It’s definitely a topic worth discussing with an estate planning attorney! Did you know that the estate tax exclusion is currently at a record-high of $11.7 million per person? However, it is widely expected that this number will not be this high for much longer....
