I generally say “let me know about two weeks before you need it” when people tell me they are thinking about getting their will or trust done.  Yes, I smile and sometimes wink after saying that. The fact is we don’t know when our two week timer has started… and when it’s going to BUZZ!  […]

I recently met with “Mabel,” an 85 year old client with a dog named “Buddy” who she loves very much. When Mabel dies who will take care of Buddy?  She believes her neighbor will take Buddy but will he?  Can Mabel do something to provide more security for Buddy?  Herein lies a problem when the […]

Estate planning attorneys love acronyms: Q-TIP, Q-DOT and Q-PRT are three relatively well known types of trusts.  Others include ILIT, CRT, GRAT, GRIT and A/B.  Though all of these initials are good estate planning tools to consider the QPRT, or QUALIFIED PERSONAL RESIDENCE TRUST is a vastly underutilized tool in this author’s opinion. A QPRT […]

Not sure how to demonstrate SILENCE but go back and re-read the title of this post and then pretend you are sitting in the cone of silence from the TV show (no, not the movie) Get Smart.  Oh boy, not the movie!  That thing was painfully bad.  The silence of the cone of silence (or […]

You may want to tell me I am wrong but did you know airline (and hotel) miles are only worth about a penny each?  Yes, really.  Well, think about it. Let’s say it takes 35,000 miles for the average domestic round trip on some airline, right?  What does the average ticket cost?  $350?  So, about a […]

Titling, titling, titling…. As with real estate it’s location, location, location with trusts, it’s titling, titling and TITLING!  What do I mean?  Well, there are several issues that can arise with trust titling errors which can cause big headaches for you and/or your loved ones. The most common is a slightly different trust name.  So, […]

I was walking down the streets of Waikiki last week and it got me thinking about timeshares.  You really can’t help it when in a place where I worry that everything is a come-on for a timeshare tour.  We actually were staying over on the west side of Oahu at the Marriott Ko Olina timeshare.  What […]

I almost posted this post with no words in it. Frankly, nobody on earth knows what the tax laws are going to be once the governemnt sorts it out.  However, let’s talk about some possibilities. What is the state of the law as of TODAY?  Luckily today is a holiday (Martin Luther King Day) so […]

Every California lawyer knows what these letters stand for… Mandatory Continuing Legal Education.  Some attorneys dread it.  Yes, sitting in some hotel ballroom listening to non-professional speakers drone on and on can be tiring. As the years have gone on I have learned to really appreciate MCLE. I remember sitting in a session, as a new […]

I was listening to the Dan Patrick show this morning on Fox Sports Radio. He went to a commercial break where he read the commercial. It was for Legal Zoom.  For those of you who don’t know, Legalzoom.com is a website that will draft simple legal documents for you for fees that are typically much […]