The California probate Court system provides for a fairly uniform application of the laws of California from county to county. The probate Court is part of the Superior Court and in some counties is heard together with other matters. In the larger counties the probate Court typically has it’s own calendar, own Court room and […]

In the past week I have blogged generally about the need to transfer your assets into your trust and specifically the need to transfer often forgotten assets like timeshares to your trust. The question is HOW?  How does one “transfer” an asset into their California trust?  Today we are going to focus on real estate […]

Breaking news from ABC News: The California Attorney General’s Office of Charitable Trust is investigating the Farrah Fawcett Foundation for potential mismanagement of funds, diversion of assets, and fraud, ABC News has learned exclusively through numerous sources including Fawcett’s longtime friend and former college boyfriend Greg Lott. The foundation became active after Fawcett’s death in […]

I have made a list of 7 questions that I feel are important for you to know about BEFORE you hire an estate planning attorney to do your will, trust, powers of attorney and whatever else you need.  I am going to talk about one question here today and if you want the rest of the […]

So many people set up trusts but then fail to get their assets properly “IN” to the trust. Sure you got some nice some forms from a website or a paralegal sold you some documents cheap. Or maybe even a lawyer provided a faux leather binder full of important looking documents. However, estate planning is […]

The rules for trusts are even more complicated with FDIC insurance. Here are the current rules, as of September 20, 2011, from the FDIC website. I hope this helps you. Ownership Categories Revocable Trust Accounts This section explains FDIC insurance coverage for revocable trust accounts, and is not intended as estate planning advice or guidance. […]

Currently the FDIC insurance limits have been raised to $250,000 per BANK (not per account). I will post the trust rules later in the week as they are a little different. Check out fdic.gov for the latest information about FDIC insurance. It’s a huge part of estate planning, trust and probate law so I am […]

Let me start by saying there is no magic trust. As I often tell clients if there was a magic creditor protection trust we could all get one, stop paying for car insurance, and leave reckless lives. Not saying we all would but a lot of people would. Though there is no magic trust there […]

Each July I get the opportunity to guest lecture at the income tax class taught by Folsom, CPA, Daniel Staszak. My notes from this year’s presentation are below for your review. July 14, 2011   Dan Staszak’s CFP – INCOME TAX class    60 Minutes – Probate/Trust Admin   I. Introduction A. JBP – 17th year – Cert […]

As I went through my outline from my 2008 presentation, for NBI, on California probate law I realized I had pretty extensive materials on surviving spousal rights. I hope you find it interesting reading my outline!  I find any topic that I present to a room full of attorneys, like this one, is always a […]