A person asked me the other day to explain the step-up in basis rules. This can be very complicated so I will digest down to the very basic elements. Let’s say dad buys a house for $25,000 in 1966.  Let’s say that house is now worth $300,000.  If dad sells the house while he is […]

A huge problem we have encountered more and more lately is changing the mortgage from the deceased’s name into the family’s name. That is cases such as two I have right now where the property is in the deceased spouse’s name. I can easily transfer the title of the house by a spousal property petition. […]

Later today I am speaking to a group of Realtors at the Lyon Real Estate office in Folsom.  I will be giving them a refresher course on transferring and selling real estate after death. Here’s my outline: LYON REAL ESTATE – Folsom, CA February 27, 2013 By: John B. Palley, Esq. I.       Introduction John […]

I know you don’t believe the headline but it’s TRUE. 100% true! One of newest and nicest cemeteries in the greater Sacramento valley area does not accept money. Free burial, headstone and even a 15 minute service. What’s the catch? You or your spouse have to have served in the military and been honorably discharged. […]

I have been on vacation for the last two weeks. I thought about blogging almost every day but I never did it. However, I feel re-charged, re-energized and ready to WORK! I am ready to blog and ready to roll! I read an interesting article last week. It suggested that the average person spends more […]

We are pleased to announce that John Palley, our lead probate attorney, has been chosen to be the lead speaker at the April 18th IPE seminar on the Probate Process from Start to Finish.  The seminar will take place at the Sheraton Grand on J Street in Sacramento. The brief outline is below. If you […]

The 2013 report on America’s most advisor friendly trust companies was released last week.  Here is a link to the full article.  The article has a lot of informative information about working with a trust company and some of the differences of using trust companies in different states. Also, in that article is a list of […]

I was quoted in an article today on Forbes.com. The article is about doing business on the golf course. I don’t have time for golf anymore. The incident I am quoted for happened about 15 years ago. Here is the link to the article.

My post the other day with the totally destroyed house here in Sacramento reminded me of another probate house from a few years ago. This one involved an incredible mystery which I will try to get to in the coming days. However, for today I’ll just give you the basic overview and some pictures of […]

The below are actual photos of a home we have in a probate case right now in the Sacramento probate Court. These are not doctored images. The problem here is the Executor of this probate estate died during the administration. We were eventually notified and got a new Executor in place to protect the estate. […]