Resources 

Although plans should be flexible, as the years pass by and the time comes for your estate planning documents to actually be put into action, your plan may not work as expected. Both family, and financial circumstances may have changed significantly, as well as relevant laws.  To ensure that your plan accomplishes its intended objectives, you should establish a reasonable plan for periodic reviews with your attorney.

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Trust administration is the process that must be completed after the creator of a trust dies.  It provides for the successor trustee of the decedent’s trust to gain control of the trust assets, notify certain parties as required by law, pay debts and taxes, and distribute the remaining assets to the beneficiaries of the trust in accordance with the terms of the trust.

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The trust itself, California law, and the Internal Revenue Code all place specific duties on the successor trustee. This may include dealing with real property tax issues, income tax issues, and in some cases estate tax issues.  In addition, a trustee is required to provide accountings to trust beneficiaries to explain the income and expenses of the trust since the death has occurred, until distributions to the beneficiaries are completed.  An attorney will assist the trustee throughout the trust administration process, making sure that all responsibilities are completed including the preparation of important documents, which, done incorrectly, can result in unnecessary costs to the trust.

One of the biggest benefits of a trust is that it will help you avoid probate. As such, it will help you get your assets to your beneficiaries quicker than going through probate and can be much less costly than probate. A Trust also gives you the opportunity to designate specific gifts to individuals and charities. Having a Trust is almost always the right choice. Contact us to help up you plan your estate to make sure your assets go where you want when you want. 

Having a Will when you pass means that you are “Testate.”  Passing without a Will means you pass “Intestate.”  If you do not have a Trust and you pass with assets that exceed the statutory limit in California, your assets will go through probate whether you have a Will or not.  The benefit of having a Will versus not having a Will is that if you have a Will, you can select your personal administrator and can designate where you assets will go.  If you do not even have a Will, your assets will pass through intestate succession.   

Proposition 19 in California greatly altered the property tax benefits that were available under proposition 58.  While there were broader property tax benefits for your beneficiaries inheriting real estate under proposition 58, there is still some benefit under proposition 19.  Under proposition 19, if a child makes their parent(s)’ former primary residence their primary residence, there is up to a $1,000,0000 exemption from property tax reassessment.  Contact us to evaluate your estate and plan for those you want to inherit your assets.

As counselors at law, our attorneys specialize in guiding you through the process of creating your estate plan to ensure your assets pass effectively and efficiently to those you want to inherit.  Contact us to assist you with your questions and your planning.

Yes!  While many companies, LLC’s and corporation, can get busy or sidetracked and neglect the formalities, such as, annual meetings for corporations and Statements of Information for LLC’s and Corporations,  required by law, keeping formalities is actually very important.  

Entities, such as corporations and LLC’s offer a variety of benefits and advantages, such as potential tax savings and protection of personal assets.   But if formalities are not maintained, your entity may be seen as a shill entity or alter ego, and as such lose its protection and tax advantages.

Another danger of not maintaining formalities is “piercing the corporate veil.”  This is an action whereby a plaintiff seeks to recover damages from your personal assets, that is, going through the veil (protective layer) of the entity and taking things that you own in your own name.  We can help you form and maintain your business entity and help ensure against vulnerabilities

The contract you use for a real estate transaction is of the utmost importance.  When purchasing real estate, you’ve heard the old expression, location, location, location.  When it comes to what’s important in the actual transaction, I like to say, it’s the contract, contract, contract.

To quote another old saying, good fences make for good neighbors; a similar saying is true in real estate transactions, good contracts make for good transaction.

When drafting or reviewing real estate contracts, you have to be concerned about what is in the contract that may not be in your best interest as well as what is not the contract that is in your best interest and should be in it.