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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 [...]

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 [...]

What is a Durable Power of Attorney? A durable power of attorney allows you to manage your property and financial affairs in the event that you become disabled or incapacitated. Unless you have a properly drafted power of attorney, when you become incapacitated or disabled, it may be necessary to go to court and have a guardian or conservator appointed to make decisions for you.  This conservatorship process is usually lengthy and expensive as well as being emotionally draining. There are two types of durable [...]

With an estate plan, you can:Provide support and financial stability for your surviving spouse or partner, children, and grandchildren.Preserve your assets for later generations.Make sure your wishes are carried out when you can no longer manage your affairs. It's important to have both a power of attorney and an advance health care directive.Support a favorite charity or cause with a gift of money, securities, or other property.Distribute assets in a timely fashion, with a minimum of legal hassles.Minimize taxes and expenses that can go along [...]

Grandma had the most amazing china. Her three adult grand-children continued to fight over who would get grandma’s china when she passed away. It wasn’t the house, the car or the money that her three grand-children bickered about, but rather the source of the commotion was Grandma’s fine china, routinely used to serve dinner on the most special of occasions. Unlike financial assets, which can generally be divided easily among your heirs, tangible personal property is unique. And the complications associated with distributing a lifetime’s [...]

Revocable Living Trusts are used by individuals and couples in California to avoid having their estates subject to probate. In California, if your estate’s market value is over $150,000, it will most likely be subject to probate.  A Revocable Living Trust can help you avoid probate.   What is a Living Trust? Revocable Living Trusts allow you to retain full control over trust property while you are still alive. After your death, the property in the trust is transferred quickly to your beneficiaries without the [...]

The death of pop star Whitney Houston should serve as a reminder to make sure that when you set up a revocable living trust you properly fund that trust; and that you update your estate planning documents every couple years. Whitney Houston’s sad story is an unfortunate, but educational example of what should be done with an estate plan. While it is too early to know all aspects of Whitney Houston's estate when she died, the six-time Grammy winner, who died February 11, 2012 at [...]

Proper execution of all estate planning documents requires the person signing have sufficient mental "capacity" to recognize and comprehend the implications of what they are doing. Most people speak of legal "capacity" or "competence" has something people either have or don’t have. But capacity can depend on many variables, including the person's capabilities and the task at hand for which capacity is required. When determining capacity to execute estate planning documents, it is important to look at the client's abilities, which may change from day [...]