Bay Area Estates and Tax Law Blog

The matter might have seemed like an open-and-quickly-shut case to the widow of Johnny Hallyday.

A French court is taking a different view.

It all seemed relatively clear for a few months. A recent discovery has all but obliterated that clarity, though, and spawned developments that spell future cloudiness rather than transparency.

We spotlight in today’s blog post the continuing drama surrounding acknowledged Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin, who mightily strode a world stage for decades as a renowned vocalist and musical artist.

When your parents pass away, odds are you and your siblings will come together at first. Some even see it as a time to bond, as sad as it is.

Be warned, though: Your relationships with your siblings can change significantly after your parents are gone. You may not have thought about it in a long time, but they may still have been defining your relationships the way that they did when you were kids. You may feel that shift when you no longer have that structure and leadership in place.

Imagine that you – a proactive and careful California planner – take steps to ensure your active control of assets during your lifetime. Moreover, your close collaboration with a proven estate planning attorney also ensures that your property will be distributed to heirs and loved ones following your death according to your wishes.

Those dual objectives are routinely promoted through a planner’s execution of a revocable living trust. That legal instrument is impressively flexible and protective, allowing a planner to maintain total control of trust property while alive and have it pass at a future date exactly as intended.