I was asked to speak today to the Sacramento County Bar probate and family law joint meeting. That is, the monthly meetings normally take place separately. One for the probate/estate planning attorneys and one for the family/divorce attorneys. Today they met together.  With me, on the panel, were two divorce attorneys and a superior Court Judge who does both family and probate law.

The issues were interesting running through many crossover issues between estate planning and family law. That is, what happens if you are about to get divorced and you get your estate plan done?  Or what happens if you have a family law custody case, someone dies, and then someone files for a probate guardianship?  Or change of beneficiary forms during divorce?  Or how the automatic restraining orders apply to wills and trusts? Would an unfunded trust be ok during the divorce?  Or what happens if a person dies during the divorce?  We went through these and several other similar issues.

In the coming days I will answers them so stay tuned!