What is a trust? Is it an entity like a corporation?  Is it a contract or agreement?  Is it a will?  What exactly is it?  I have heard a lot in the 17 years I have been preparing trusts. People do not know as they have heard a mix of information (much of it not accurate) […]

Wills v. trusts or is it trusts v. wills or is it really wills AND trusts!? I get into this discussion a lot with my clients.  Many people do not realize that in a proper California estate plan you will have BOTH a will AND a trust. You can read my more formal article on […]

I just saw this on PRweb. Interesting read I thought: Estate Street Partners affirms that through Steve’s brilliant foresight, he may very well have saved his family $3B and public scrutiny with well-constructed irrevocable trusts Boston, MA (PRWEB) October 27, 2011 Steve Jobs may not have been able to cheat death, but it appears that […]

There are so many reasons why a trust remains unfunded or only partially funded at death. I have talked about it before. The most common situations are: 1) re-fi or reverse mortgage taken out before death. The house is usually removed from the trust to complete the loan and the title company does not put […]

Being an expert on California Heggstad petitions, pursuant to California Probate Code section 850, I get a lot of lawyers asking me questions about Heggstads. That’s ok. I don’t mind. A lot of times the other lawyer realizes it is a complex petition that they should leave to the experts. In other cases I help […]

What documents should your California living trust package have?  A lot of clients think a trust is the only document. However, it’s not. Far from it!  There are a number of documents that a properly prepared California revocable “living” trust package should have. Here is a brief summary of each: California Revocable Living Trust – […]

There are a lot of misconceptions and misinformation regarding estate planning out there. I call it cocktail party talk. That is, you are at a cocktail party and the know-it-all in the room starts telling horror stories about his mother-in-law’s estate planning.  This post aims to clear up some of the issues regarding the fees and […]

California estate planning at it’s simplest is about planning for you and your spouse.  However, in many cases, the bigger benefit in estate planning is how you can leave things for your children, grandchildren and other subsequent generations with advantages you can’t set up for yourselves. You want to avoid estate taxes, avoid capital gains […]

I have blogged several times before about the California Heggstad petition. It’s a way to get an asset into a trust after death without going through a full probate. However, I had to think about it how many different ways I have seen people ask about this petition? The official case, that generated the “law” […]

Ok you have set up your California revocable “living” or “loving” trust. It’s to make sure all your assets have been transferred to your trust properly.  Last week we talked about your real estate including time shares. Now let’s talk about your bank and other financial accounts. Yes, you should transfer all your bank accounts […]