Top 10 Reasons to Create an Estate Plan
Estate planning helps protect your family in the event that something happens to you. Find out the top 10 reasons to create an estate plan.
Protect Your Assets with a Living Trust
Estate planning is one of the most important things you can do to protect your assets. When planning your estate, the best way to protect your assets is with a Living Trust. A Living Trust allows you to protect your assets from the unnecessary delays, costs and hassles of probate.
Avoiding Probate with Beneficiary Designation
Avoiding probate does not have to be complicated or expensive. There are simple steps you can take to ensure that certain assets pass to the people you chose without going through probate. One of the easiest ways to avoid probate is to have the money in your bank accounts, retirement accounts and investment accounts automatically transfer to the beneficiary or beneficiaries of your choice after you pass away by filling out simple beneficiary designation forms with your bank and financial institution.Pay-on-Death (POD) Bank AccountsPay-on-death (POD) [...]
Living Trusts Versus Wills
Clients often ask me “what is the difference between a basic will and a revocable living trust?” And they also ask “which one do I need?” It is important to know the differences between a revocable living trust and a will. Not everyone needs a living trust.Revocable living trusts and basic wills both allow you to name beneficiaries to receive your property after you pass away. They are useful estate planning devices for different purposes. The most important difference is that a living trust allows [...]
Avoid Probate of CA Real Property with Living Trust
In California a revocable living trust is the best way for real property owners to avoid the need to probate their real property, allowing them to maintain control and save money all at the same time. However, it is not enough to establish a trust – you must also fund it. Transfer of your real property into your trust is not complete without a recorded deed. To avoid probate a trust must be properly funded. Funding of real property is accomplished by deed. A deed [...]
Revocable Living Trusts and Irrevocable Trusts
Without a properly drafted estate plan stating your wishes, your assets may not go to the person or persons you want or they may be distributed according to State law.
Choosing Your Successor Trustee
The Successor Trustee will collect and manage your assets, pay your debts, and decide when and how your trust assets will be distributed to your beneficiaries after you pass away.
California Slayer Statute – You Can’t Profit From The Will If You Kill!
The California Probate Code has a statute that punishes those who commit a felonious killing of another human being. This is known as the California Slayer Statute. When the killing of another is considered a felonious act, the person who commits the felonious murder of another cannot profit from the victim’s estate.However, if you kill somebody in self-defense or commit justifiable homicide, this would not be considered a felonious killing and the person would be entitled to any gifts left to them under the victim’s [...]
How to Avoid Probate
Many people feel strongly about avoiding probate at their death. You may think that a Last Will is something that family members handle among themselves after you pass away. Everyone pictures a scene out of a movie or TV show where the executor reads the Will to the family, and then proceeds to distribute the assets in accordance with the Will. The truth is that the process is never that simple. Unless your estate is valued at less than $150,000, the Probate Court must be [...]
Why Estate Planning is Important to You
Do you have an estate plan? You should have a carefully conceived estate plan which allows you to decide how your assets will be handled when you pass away or become incapacitated. You've probably spent a great deal of time and energy accumulating your assets, and a good estate plan will help protect your interests once you no longer are able to. Failure to properly plan your estate can leave your family’s property vulnerable. And the larger your estate, the more critical it is to plan [...]