One of the things that makes managing legal issues so challenging is that the laws are always changing. This blog is designed to help you stay current on many of the latest changes.
As a companion piece to our blogs on living trusts, let’s focus on what is known in the estate planning world as the ILIT: the irrevocable life insurance trust. Life insurance is something that many people have, but what most people know about life insurance amounts, so to speak, to something like this: that […]
read more...Failing to update your estate planning documents and financial accounts after divorce. With a divorce rate ranging from fifty to sixty percent these days, it truly can happen to any marriage. Although it is a difficult transition period, you must make sure to properly update any estate plan you might have created with your former […]
read more...We see this situation all too often with our trust administration clients. A married couple was proactive early in their lives and properly created an estate plan with a revocable living trust; but unfortunately, after the first spouse died, the trust was not properly administered. This can lead not only to complications for the surviving […]
read more...With summer fast approaching, Kelly Phillips Erb dedicated one of her recent Forbes Taxgirl columns to the tax considerations of buying a vacation property. This is very timely for our blog, because along with tax benefits and considerations, owning a vacation home or second home also has estate planning considerations. Being fortunate enough to […]
read more...You’ve finally decided to venture out on your own and start your company. Congratulations! The next big decision to make is choosing what type of corporate entity you should be. There are many different corporate entities available; you just have to make sure whichever one you choose is right for your business. You can […]
read more...These days, divorce is a fairly common occurrence. And here in southern California, celebrity divorce is a frequent topic in all forms of media. Singers, actors, rappers, athletes…unhappy couples are announcing their split-ups practically every day. News of the imminent divorce of one such globally famous couple, Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas, is one of […]
read more...A lot of estate planning relates to money. Money is an asset that can be bequeathed, donated, or placed in a trust. Beneficiaries receive payment, in a manner of speaking. But what about executors? When choosing an executor, you must ask yourself some variation of these questions: Whom do I trust absolutely? Who is the […]
read more...Do you know what happens if a person designates someone as a beneficiary in their will, or a trust, and that beneficiary dies before the owner of the will/trustmaker does? Those of you familiar with this blog know that I always encourage my readers, and my clients, to bring all their estate planning questions, worries […]
read more...It occurred to me that one area I have not really explored in my blog covers estates, executors, and Letters Testamentary. These are just a few of the various topics relating to probate in California. Most of my blogs have focused on the elements of California estate plans, and on estate planning in general. But […]
read more...An international tragedy – and mystery – still very much in the news is the still-unsolved disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines plane, and the search for answers continues in the Indian Ocean near Australia. Many families have had to face the possibility that their loved ones are gone, since to date no survivors have been […]
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