In California probate and trust administration cases we often have to go find the money. There are a number of things we do.  These are often employed when I am hired as to represent a beneficiary. That is, they want to make sure the Executor or Trustee is doing things right and accounting for all […]

A lot of times when I go through a trust client’s ask “why is that there?”  Of course these documents are based on forms and some of the form is “boilerplate” and the same for most clients.  Our forms have been tweaked over 30 years of development to have what we think our the crucial […]

As I have said before there it is amazing how many questions are answered in the California probate code relating to California probate, trusts, estates, estate planning, and related matters.  I have an interesting case right now where there is confusion with some poorly written terms of a trust and there is no successor trustee named in […]

There are so many reasons why a trust remains unfunded or only partially funded at death. I have talked about it before. The most common situations are: 1) re-fi or reverse mortgage taken out before death. The house is usually removed from the trust to complete the loan and the title company does not put […]

I represent a lot of executors, administrators, trustees and personal representatives (collectively we will call them a “fiduciary”) in California probate and trust and administration cases.  Likewise I sometimes represent a beneficiary in a case. That is I make sure that the beneficiaries or an “heir at law” is represented so that the fiduciary does their job properly. […]

California trust administration (typically after death) is more involved than a lot of people realize. Yes, a properly funded California living trust avoids probate. That’s totally true. However, many trusts are not properly funded before death.  Moreover, even for trusts that are properly funded before death there are a number of issues that the trustee […]

It seems I am very often dealing with cases where the son, daughter or other “trusted” person steals from mom or dad late in life.  That is, when mom and dad are most vulnerable their most trusted loved ones are stealing from them.  Yes, it’s sometimes called “borrowing” and sometimes called “payment for services” and […]

I have blogged several times before about the California Heggstad petition. It’s a way to get an asset into a trust after death without going through a full probate. However, I had to think about it how many different ways I have seen people ask about this petition? The official case, that generated the “law” […]

I have written before about Heggstad petitions.  In particular you can see my formal article, with case background information, on my website at https://californiaprobate.info/probate/petition-related-to-trusts As stated there a Heggstad petition is a way to get property (real and personal) into your California trust AFTER death.  It can be used for almost any assets: bank accounts, stock […]

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 […]