Estate Planning

As your parents grow older, you may wonder if they have an estate plan. You may be worried that there will be a family crisis if they don’t have a plan when they pass away. At the same time, you don’t want to ask them if they have an estate plan and make it sound like...

Estate planning is important for all adults residing in the U.S., regardless of immigration status. For undocumented individuals in California, the effort of creating a comprehensive estate plan can help to protect their assets, help to safeguard their family’s...

A will is a legal document that outlines someone’s final wishes. When they pass away, the instructions of the will, which may include things like who should inherit assets and who should look after minor children, should be honored. A Will is submitted to a court to...

A home is one of the most valuable assets you can leave to a loved one – especially here in California. Still, before you codify that in your estate plan, you want to make sure that the intended beneficiary wants it – whether to live in, rent out or sell. One concern...

Scammers have come a long way from pretending to be a foreign prince. Their schemes have become more elaborate and more convincing, especially when they have advanced technological skills. How can you protect your parents from losing their life savings to these...

When creating your will, you do not want to leave any doubts about your testamentary capacity, which is your mental ability to create a legally binding and enforceable document. Otherwise, you risk a will or trust contest that could derail your estate plan. Here are...

When drafting an estate plan, you can nominate someone to make health care decisions on your behalf if you cannot. An Advance Health Care Directive ("Advance Directive") allows you to make such nominations and to leave guidance to your agent about personal health care...

Too many people don’t even consider including a living trust in their estate plan because they don’t think it’s right for them or that it’s too much trouble to establish and maintain – without even realizing exactly what it is. However, a revocable living trust is not...

People putting together estate plans often create trusts for their own protection. They worry about collection activity later in life when they live on a fixed income. They may want to avoid estate taxes or protect against the possibility of a lawsuit or divorce...

Some Californians procrastinate in drawing up an Advance Directive for Health Care and naming a health care agent even more than developing their will and other documents that won’t take effect until after their death. No one wants to think of the possibility that...