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As an estate planning attorney in Palm Springs, I regularly speak with individuals and families who assume estate planning begins and ends with a will. In reality, a complete estate plan includes a handful of carefully selected documents, each with a distinct role. Together, they protect your assets, your wishes, and your loved ones both during your lifetime and after your passing. Here is a look at the core documents included in a well-rounded California estate plan and why each is essential. Living Trust A [...]

Most people don’t put off estate planning because they don’t care. They put it off because life is busy, the process feels overwhelming, or they think they don’t own "enough" to make it worth doing. But here’s the reality: the cost of doing nothing almost always outweighs the effort of planning ahead. In California, even modest estates can get caught in probate. A home, a savings account, a small investment portfolio... These aren’t just numbers on a page. They’re the result of hard work and [...]

If you own real estate in California and haven’t placed it in a living trust, your property is almost certainly going through probate. Many homeowners assume a will is enough to ensure their wishes are followed. Unfortunately, in California, a will alone does not prevent your estate from entering probate court.

The word “trust” often brings to mind images of generational wealth, sprawling estates, or complicated legal tools meant only for the ultra-rich. In reality, trusts are one of the most flexible and accessible estate planning options, especially for those with creative, personal, or non-traditional assets. If you’re an artist, designer, collector, or someone who has spent time curating a meaningful home or body of work, a trust isn’t about extravagance. It’s about protecting the intention behind what you’ve built. More Than Who Gets What: It’s [...]

In Palm Springs, art, architecture, and design aren’t just aesthetic choices. They’re reflections of identity. A meticulously restored Alexander home. A contemporary photography collection. A house filled with curated pieces gathered over decades. These aren’t just assets; they’re your legacy. Unless they’re treated as such in your estate plan, they can be overlooked, mishandled, or lost altogether. In my practice, I’ve worked with many clients whose lives are steeped in design and creative expression—but whose estate plans don’t yet reflect the significance of those assets. [...]

Same-sex couples currently have nationwide recognition for their marriages—and with it, access to many of the same rights and protections long afforded to heterosexual spouses. Not all same-sex couples decide to get married. If you’re in a same-sex relationship, and especially if you’re part of a blended or nontraditional family, estate planning remains every bit as critical today as it was before marriage equality became the law of the land and may be even more so as we are living in uncertain times. Here in [...]

When most people think about estate planning, they focus on the documents: wills, trusts, powers of attorney. But few realize that even the most carefully drafted estate plan can unravel if the wrong person is put in charge of carrying it out. That person is your executor (or successor trustee, in the case of a trust)—and their role is more than symbolic. They are the one tasked with collecting your assets, paying debts and taxes, distributing inheritances, and ensuring your wishes are honored. But what [...]