Let’s be honest some people are just DIYers and some people want it done for them. There is no judgement one way or the other.  My law firm provides extremely competent, full service, legal services. That’s what we do.  Therefore my post is about full service legal services and, in particular, the problems that can […]

I spoke recently to a potential new client who lives in the great state of Texas. Her daughter died here in California, with assets exceeding $150,000, and thus she needs to start a probate. This is the type of case I specialize in. I deal with dozens of such cases each year where my client […]

Today is Monday February 25, 2019. We had a probate hearing on calendar in a county in California. I am not trying to throw any specific Court under the bus so let’s just say a county somewhere south of Oregon and north of the Mexican border. We had taken over the probate from another attorney […]

I got a new case recently where the person who died had a Suze Orman will and trust. Let’s just say, in legal terms, it’s all messed up! Before I go on let me make clear that Suze has a well deserved reputation as a financial guru. She has helped millions of people get their […]

We lost my mom back in March of 2016 and I still get a lot of mail for her. My favorite is from AAA which says, on the envelope “WE WANT YOU BACK.” We get a chuckle, though a sad one, each time we receive that junk mail.  The mail continues.  Macy’s loves to send […]

Even if you have the best California probate attorney you can get a bad court date. In most cases there are two court dates given. One at the beginning when you file the Petition for Probate or Petition for Letters Testamentary or Petition for Letters of Administration. The second date is at the end of […]

It has been said to me by many a client, “it is truly a breath of fresh air how fast you reply to emails and phone calls… thank you.” They often then say something like other attorneys don’t even call them back to schedule an initial appointment or call them back once they are the […]

Every year it happens. Every year I get to the end of the year and am amazed that some people I met with months ago have not finished their estate plans yet. People who have had rough drafts mailed to them long ago. People who have been reminded that they should get it done.  People […]

I had a really interesting fact pattern today that I wanted to share. I got the perspective client’s permission to share but, of course, names are changed for privacy. Sadly Gina’s mom, Molly, died in December of 2015 and her dad, Donald, died in December of 2016. A crappy 12 months for Gina we can […]

I have posted a few times on the importance of funding your trust. I have also posted about my inclination toward consolidation of assets. As stated you have to consider FDIC insurance, other insurance, taxes, etc… but in general I am a big proponent of consolidation. I also have mentioned that I feel holding stocks […]