Imagine working a lifetime to build your wealth. You spend countless hours working the Bay Area in order to create a strong stock portfolio, buy a house and accumulate various other assets. But, what happens to your wealth if something should happen to you or if you...
Estate And Tax Planning Law Firm
Estate Planning
How to choose the right trustee the first time
There is more to creating a trust than meets the eye. In addition to adding assets to the trust, there's something else you need to think about: finding the right person to serve as trustee.While this sounds as simple as naming a trustee and moving on with the rest of...
Is it time to review and update your will?
You've already taken the step of creating a will, which sets you apart from a surprising number of adults throughout the country. If you only recently created your will and have yet to experience any major life changes, you probably have no great need to review...
Your rights as a surviving spouse
Most states, including California, have laws in place to protect surviving spouses and other potential heirs to a decedent's property. This means that if one spouse dies, the other still has inheritance rights even if a will was never written or an existing will never...
Lack of estate planning can yield unintended consequences
Here's an estate administration outcome that will certainly grab the attention of many individuals in California and across the country. To wit: An individual -- a dad, say -- takes out a hefty life insurance policy that names his wife as beneficiary. He derives...
Yet another example of the power and utility of trusts
Imagine that you're a California grandparent who dotes mightily on the grandkids. As clear evidence of your love, you have been steadily funding college saving plans for them, which have reaped gains over the years owing to their qualified status that protects them...
Some important estate planning considerations for those who have remarried
In the immediate aftermath of a prolonged and particularly acrimonious divorce, it's not uncommon for people to vow that they will never remarry, as they simply wouldn't want to put themselves or their children at risk of having to endure the experience all over...
Advice on having a family talk re estate planning: don’t dally
"We need to talk."That succinct and quickly conveyed prompt -- from either adult children to parents or from the latter to their kids -- might essentially be all that's needed to shake off inertia and family reticence regarding a centrally important matter. And that...
Being a trust administrator: hardly a casual, indifferent task
Here's a central reality regarding trust administration in California and across the United States: Individuals who establish trust vehicles (such persons are often termed trustors or settlers) as planning tools intended to benefit others often appoint trust...
The duties of trustees and the rights of beneficiaries
In the world of trusts, trustees have duties and beneficiaries have rights.What duties do trustees have? If you have been named as a trustee for a trust, then you have many important duties that must be taken seriously, including:The duty to administer the trust...