Unfortunately a lot of people misplace their will, and/or trust, before they die.  They know it’s important and thus hire a California estate planning attorney to draft the necessary documents.  After they sign their documents their lawyer often gives them the original to put in a safe place. Then what…. Well, that’s the $64,000 question […]

Estate planning attorneys love acronyms.   Or maybe I should say WJLT… we just love them.  AB, ABC, ABCD, Q-TIP, Q-DOT, GRAT, GRUT, CRUT, CRAT, ILIT, GRIT, FLiP, and I could go on and on.  However, the ABC trust is a standard estate planning device and is really pretty simple. In the simplest terms an ABC […]

I am helping a friend of a friend who needs an attorney in the Long Island, New York area. I contacted a law school classmate, who is in that area, to see if he knew someone out there. That is always my first move when I need to help someone find counsel in another area; […]

I did get an A in Professor Kriswell’s pysch class in college but I am certainly no psychologist.  However, after 18 years of doing estate planning I am pretty familiar with the topic of death and dying. I am familiar with common thought patterns, common thoughts and also the divergence of thoughts on the topics of […]

No this is not as good as meeting with an attorney and getting a proper document made up. However, if you are in a pinch and need a document fast this should work.  Here is the link to the UCSF Medical Center Advanced Health Care Directive. It would work anywhere in California and probably anywhere […]

Selling a business in probate, after death, requires special care. However, when the business is a law practice there are even more rules. This, of course, is due to the interplay between the probate code and the California Bar’s rules of ethics. If you are a lawyer then you know you can’t split fees with […]

The California probate code does an incredible job of laying out what is needed to be done for a California probate case. The probate code is thick and has incredible details about the most obscure situations. However, there are some things that are not laid out in the probate code: 1) Court Call allows an […]

A California probate is a 7 month, at a minimum, process. Here are 3 key steps: 1) Hire a competent and experienced California probate lawyer and get your petition filed.  In my office we usually have the petition prepared the same day you contact us and tell us to start! It can then be filed, […]

I recently met with a client who has a number of horses. Her family is not interested in them so she wants them to go to a trusted friend and fellow horse lover. We are assigning the “ownership” of the horses to her California revocable living trust. This will help to avoid probate after death. […]

How best to transfer a car after death? Own it in a trust? Joint ownership?  Transfer on death? Or just let your loved ones fill out DMV forms for transfer without probate? There are a lot of options. 1) Owning in Trust:  Owning a car in a trust is very cumbersome.  The forms required to […]