“We aren’t quite ready to finish our estate plan yet….” “We are waiting to finish one other thing first….” “As soon as we finish our taxes we will get it done….” “We want to see how our son behaves the next few months and then we’ll finish….” Clearly no time is “perfect” for finishing an […]

The government has come up with a “permanent” estate tax solution. Does that mean you can get rid of your family limited partnerships and LLCs? What about your irrevocable trusts? There are a lot of good reasons for them! Today we will hit on a few reasons why you should keep your family limited partnerships […]

Our office did a lot of advanced estate planning late in the year. We helped clients give away tens of MILLIONS of dollars, without tax, through mediums such as family limited liability companies (FLPs), irrevocable trusts, and tenancy in common agreements.  Most experts thought the January 1, 2013 date would come with a lower gift […]

I was just reading about a new California case that cut into the asset protection world a little bit.  It’s the case of Kilker v. Stillman, 2012 WL 5902348 (Cal.App. 4 Dist., Unpublished, Nov. 26, 2012). Asset protection, in most cases, is simply estate or asset planning that happens to include some protection elements to it. […]

Client’s often ignore their timeshare. They typically cost much more than they are worth but you should not ignore them when doing your planning. Failing to properly plan for your timeshare can leave your loved ones with a big pain in the neck… in addition to the ongoing maintenance fees! I deal with dozens of […]

It’s amazing how poorly planned many celebs are. Thomas Kinkade’s estate debacle was yet another in a long line of messed up celebrity estates. The Sacramento Bee has reported that it has been settled privately. Here is a link to the article.

“My brother is taking too long to close my dad’s probate….”  I hear statements like this a lot.  Many times they are correct but many times they are not. The purpose of this post today is to give you 10 things to look for which need to be done for the probate to be closed. […]

I just read this article in the Sacramento Bee that I found interesting.  It focuses on the income tax side and what the two sides are working on in DC. They claim they are close. The bigger question for me, and my clients, is what will the gift and estate tax exemptions be!? I’ll be […]

The new toy, the new tie, the 1/2 day at the spa… they are all soon forgotten. However, do a solid estate plan and the gift will give every year for EVER and that’s a long time!  Tell your kids you have updated your estate plan and if your kids don’t have an estate plan […]

Every lawyer and every law firm does things differently in terms of charging for changes to an existing will or trust. For example, I have heard some lawyers say they will not charge for changes for life. Is that your life or their life, I wonder!? What if they retire next week? Does somebody else […]