A recent article in an online California publication is quite instructive -- even eye-opening -- regarding the need for any estate planner to periodically revisit material points in planning documents and, if necessary, make adjustments to conform with present...
Estate And Tax Planning Law Firm
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Bona-fide estate concern for many: funeral arrangements, costs
Seemingly, a 75% success rate qualifies as a win in many of life's endeavors.That's certainly not the case, though, as regards the attempts of an individual or family members to gather relevant information on funeral costs. Most people in California and across the...
Estate litigation: cautionary tales from 2016
Some things in life remain constant.The sun rises each day. The seasons change. And families continue to fight over estates.That latter declaration is the lead in a recent wealth-focused article in a national publication chronicling some of the more prominent family...
Family costs for mom and dad: often exceeding outlays for kids
A writer and advocate for the elderly notes what he describes as a stark dichotomy regarding the financial outlays made by legions of families across the United States for different purposes.Those dual purposes: child-rearing up to the age of 17 and providing care for...
When dad’s 100 and still hasn’t transferred assets
Seminars in California locales and elsewhere in the United States occasionally pop up to address centenarians and estate planning.We reference the impressive "100" number in today's post headline. In doing so, we implicitly acknowledge the number of ever growing...
Tips to help avoid fighting over an estate
You've created a life for yourself, over the years you've purchased property, collected personal possessions and hopefully been able to save some money. But what happens to everything you've worked for once you're gone? Controversy can spark after a loved one passes...
Spotlighting an integrated approach to estate planning
When it comes to effective estate planning, should the bottom line be predominantly focused on maximizing or minimizing?Many readers of our blog likely know that the answer to that query is going to be anything but absolute, given all the ifs, buts and maybes...
Do you trust the person who has your power of attorney?
A power of attorney is a legal document that authorizes someone to act on your behalf, and it's considered an essential tool of modern estate planning.The intention behind a POA is to give someone the ability to take over handling your affairs when you are unable to...
If you have offshore accounts, you might want to read this
Some California readers of our estate planning and litigation blog (with occasional entries addressing offshore-related accounts and taxpayer/IRS interactions) might reasonably conjure up the oft-referenced image of an ostrich with its head buried in the sand when...
Death of Afeni Shakur put rapper’s legacy at risk
When the legendary California rapper Tupac Shakur met his ultimate fate in a hail of bullets in 1996, his lucrative estate passed into the hands of his mother, Afeni Shakur. When Ms. Shakur passed away in California in May 2016, her death raised questions regarding...