An ILIT is the standard acronym in the industry for Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust.  An ILIT is one of the most dynamic estate planning tools available and that’s why I mention them from time to time. The key on this blog post is the idea that an ILIT need not have anything to do with […]

We estate planning attorneys have been waiting for a new law since the “old” law went into effect in 2002.  Surely the smart people in Washington DC will come up with a new law prior to the sunset of this law at the end of 2010… surely… and time kept ticking on toward December 31, […]

Did you know life insurance is a taxable asset in your estate?  It’s true. A lot of people think life insurance is “tax free” and that’s simply not the case. It does, generally, build in value without income tax.  However, at death it is an asset of the deceased’s estate and subject to estate tax […]

We still don’t know what the laws will be on January 1, 2011.  However, you should remember there IS a tax law in place for January 1, 2011 and it is a one million dollar exemption.  Today there is no estate tax and January 1st there is a big tax (up to 55%) with only […]

I wasn’t sure what to write about today.  To come up with an inspiration I just looked at my calendar to see what clients I have met with this week. Just yesterday’s clients gave me 3 good ideas. I am going to tell you about my meeting with a man we will call Tom.  Of […]

You live nowhere near Sacramento but you have a legal issue here. How would that work?  Some common reasons people, who live elsewhere, hire us to do legal work are: 1) mom/dad/relative/friend died in the Sacramento area and you need a probate attorney here to handle that for you and 2) your mom/dad/relative/friend lives here and […]

Still waiting…. Tick, tock, tick, tock…. I heard a funny client comment the other day.  The guy said to me, “I want to clean up my estate plan to account for Obama’s tax law changes as I don’t want him getting my money….” This is not political commentary… this is reality.  The tax law “changes” […]

I met with some giddy newlyweds last week.  They were about 70 years old and really they define the word GIDDY!  As the kids would say, “OMG!”  We met to discuss their estate planning needs. Though not worth millions they do have assets that they have worked hard to gather.  Also, they each have kids […]

The percentage of people that actually have a completed estate plan is pretty low.  I don’t know the exact number but it’s well under 50% and could easily be under 20%.  Of those 20-50% of the people who were organized enough to get your estate plan done in the first place should you review it […]

In the probate world we like to say if there’s a question the answer is in the California Probate Code. However, this wouldn’t apply to people leaving money to their pets, right!?  That only happens in the movies, right!?  Well, guess what… California Probate Code section 15212 covers PET TRUSTS. Come on, we are California, […]