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A form that was supposed to be an easy and inexpensive way to create a will turned out to be anything but that, according to a recent state court decision. The court wrote that the case provided a cautionary tale to others about estate planning and noted that some...

Now that this year’s tax season is official over (hopefully) for most California readers, tax and law experts know that it is time to start looking ahead and planning for what is to come. This might seem like an unwelcome task at the moment when you thought it was...

The practice of estate planning is as old as civilization itself and the issue of what one leaves behind and to whom remains as relevant and complicated as ever. Laws in this area have evolved somewhat with the changing times but the basic issues remain the same...

The Internal Revenue Service is not particularly friendly toward small businesses. Year after year, the IRS accuses small business of cheating their way out of millions of dollars in taxes. Small business owners in California, however, know how complicated it is to...

It may sound at first like a political talking point to say that there are more and more Americans giving up citizenship because of high tax rates, however, recent data shows that in fact more people are pursuing this option and that in many cases it can be linked to...

This is the time of year when the issue of a tax audit is most on the minds of the average California residents, because many are in the process of preparing their yearly income tax return. Tax audits are a generally intimidating proposition and most people do...

Estate planning is not often an item that California readers see in the headlines, except for when an estate planning issue with a celebrity or other public figure makes the news. We can learn a lot from these examples about what sorts of contingencies to plan for and...

In the process of beginning to create an estate plan a lot of people have probably heard that it is best to give away a substantial portion of one’s wealth before they are gone in order to minimize tax liability and to make sure that gifts go to the people and...

A federal court recently struck down an Internal Revenue Service proposal that the agency be permitted to oversee professional tax preparers. The concept was fought by tax preparers from several states as well as libertarian groups who believed it was an overreach of...

The conflict between the Internal Revenue Service and the estate of legendary pop singer Michael Jackson continues as the IRS announces huge penalties for the alleged purposeful undervaluing of the estate. We covered this issue in a post last year when it first came...