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 […]

I am often contacted by people going through a divorce. They want to change their will and change it fast so that the evil-x (or soon to be ex) gets nothing… and I mean NOTHING! Often they have already filed or been served with the summons. They may have read it to find that they […]

What is a trust? Is it an entity like a corporation?  Is it a contract or agreement?  Is it a will?  What exactly is it?  I have heard a lot in the 17 years I have been preparing trusts. People do not know as they have heard a mix of information (much of it not accurate) […]

Wills v. trusts or is it trusts v. wills or is it really wills AND trusts!? I get into this discussion a lot with my clients.  Many people do not realize that in a proper California estate plan you will have BOTH a will AND a trust. You can read my more formal article on […]

I just saw this on PRweb. Interesting read I thought: Estate Street Partners affirms that through Steve’s brilliant foresight, he may very well have saved his family $3B and public scrutiny with well-constructed irrevocable trusts Boston, MA (PRWEB) October 27, 2011 Steve Jobs may not have been able to cheat death, but it appears that […]

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 […]

Being an expert on California Heggstad petitions, pursuant to California Probate Code section 850, I get a lot of lawyers asking me questions about Heggstads. That’s ok. I don’t mind. A lot of times the other lawyer realizes it is a complex petition that they should leave to the experts. In other cases I help […]

What documents should your California living trust package have?  A lot of clients think a trust is the only document. However, it’s not. Far from it!  There are a number of documents that a properly prepared California revocable “living” trust package should have. Here is a brief summary of each: California Revocable Living Trust – […]

There are a lot of misconceptions and misinformation regarding estate planning out there. I call it cocktail party talk. That is, you are at a cocktail party and the know-it-all in the room starts telling horror stories about his mother-in-law’s estate planning.  This post aims to clear up some of the issues regarding the fees and […]

California estate planning at it’s simplest is about planning for you and your spouse.  However, in many cases, the bigger benefit in estate planning is how you can leave things for your children, grandchildren and other subsequent generations with advantages you can’t set up for yourselves. You want to avoid estate taxes, avoid capital gains […]