Estate Planning

In the wake of the death of famed musician Prince, you may have seen media reports discussing his lack of estate planning. According to a recent probate court filing, Prince's sister, Tyka Nelson, requested that a special estate trustee be appointed to oversee the...

With many people's familiarity with terms such as "executor" or "personal representative," clients are often confused when we discuss a revocable trust as an estate planning instrument and they hear new terms such as "trustor", "trustee", and "beneficiary." Below we...

A revocable trust is an estate planning instrument (1) created by a Settlor (2) during his or her lifetime, and (3) funded during his or her lifetime with the bulk of the Settlor's assets (4) for the purposes of avoiding probate. Although there are certainly other...

As a general rule, there is never a bad time to have an estate plan prepared; however, the old adage "the earlier the better" certainly rings true in the estate planning context. Many people believe that estate planning is only appropriate for the very old or the very...

After the lengthy estate planning process has finally been completed, clients are often ready to move on to greener pastures; however, this can prove to be a costly mistake. One of the most important post-formalization steps is placing the original estate planning...

After an individual's death, assets titled in the decedent's (the deceased individual) name must go through probate (a process in which the court supervises the distribution of the deceased's assets). By properly forming and "funding" your revocable trust, formal...

Does your Advance Health Care Directive provide HIPAA Authorization? An Advance Health Care Directive is an imperative part of your estate plan. It authorizes an individual of your choice to make health care decisions for you if you are incapacitated or too ill to...

Can out of State assets be held in your California Trust? A Living Trust, a common Estate Planning tool,  created for a California resident is typically created under the laws of California, unless otherwise advisable. This raises the question as to whether or...

Heggstad Petition: Transferring an Asset to Trust After DeathEstate Plans may not include all of the assets. Can you transfer an asset to trust after death? MAYBE.Generally, after the time of death a Living Trust or Revocable Trust becomes irrevocable. At that time,...

An Estate Plan must consider the assets owned jointly between you and another person, such as a residence  or assets for which you have designated a beneficiary, such as a life insurance policy.If an asset has a beneficiary designation, that asset will pass to...