You probably aren’t the only person with the New Years Resolution to Avoid Probate Court When you Die.  It’s pretty standard for organized adults to want to provide for their loved ones when they die and they want to do it in the most efficient manner possible. The most efficient manner possible is to avoid […]

Some people might see the title here and think this is an odd title: Estate planning risk, compliance and COVID-19. However, issues like compliance go with estate planning just like they do anything else.  My oldest friend is a consultant in the energy industry for Deloitte & Touche LLP.  Actually, Howard Friedman’s official title is […]

I imagine anybody reading this blog post has thought about the serious issues related to Covid-19. Most notably of course is the death rate and the rapidly growing numbers of deaths around the world but also right here in California, USA.  I don’t want to sound all doom and gloom but I am a lawyer […]

I know for several years there has been a National Estate Planning Awareness Week every year in October. Now, I am not sure how many people have been aware of this and very likely the only people aware of this already have an estate plan in place. However, anything we can do to get the […]

I got a new case recently where the person who died had a Suze Orman will and trust. Let’s just say, in legal terms, it’s all messed up! Before I go on let me make clear that Suze has a well deserved reputation as a financial guru. She has helped millions of people get their […]

Unless you live under a rock, deep in a cave, you have heard about the new tax act that Congress is putting together. This is not a political commentary on that act. More importantly a few things to remember: – With regards to estate tax very few people reading this need to worry about that […]

I have had multiple cases recently where title companies have refused to honor deeds recorded around the time of death. That is, the person just before death signed a deed to transfer the property to another. In each case the facts are slightly different. Before I explain more let me tell you that, in my […]

On March 11, 2016 I got the call of a lifetime… and I do not mean that in a good way. I got the call from the police, in Logan, Utah, that my mother had been shot to death by her husband. This is not a post about domestic abuse, gun control or mental health […]

Each year I am told of clients who had a new years resolution to “Get our estate plan done this year….” Each year they tell me they failed to do it until finally they came to see me. Often they tell me “the estate planning process was much easier than we thought it would be….” […]

Every year it happens. Every year I get to the end of the year and am amazed that some people I met with months ago have not finished their estate plans yet. People who have had rough drafts mailed to them long ago. People who have been reminded that they should get it done.  People […]