Archive for the ‘Trust’ Category2012 Basic Legal Protection for a FamilyFriday, December 23rd, 2011The new year offers a fresh opportunity to do the simple, affordable things necessary to protect your family’s financial future and peace of mind. Here is our 2012 checklist of seven essential legal protections that both you and your spouse or domestic partner should have in place to protect your family: (more…)
Three Trusts That Can Help Protect Your Assets from CreditorsWednesday, November 23rd, 2011If you are in business for yourself, or have a family-owned business, one of your long-term goals is probably to pass on as much as possible to your heirs while minimizing any federal estate taxes. To help achieve this goal, you may wish to consider utilizing legally-approved ways to protect your assets from ever being devastated by a malpractice, business, or real estate lawsuit that goes against you. (more…)
Mending Broken Fences with San Diego Trust and Probate MediationFriday, October 28th, 2011If you’re faced with probate or living trust disputes, through mediation you may be able to get the resolution you need to ease the conflict. It’s worked for many San Diego families. Mediation is a process where you and the other parties meet both separately and then together with a mediator, who’s a neutral third party trained to help resolve disagreements. It’s done outside of court, which means you and the other parties are in control of what happens and can agree on your own resolution, instead of having a judge decide for you. It also saves the time and cost of fighting over the issues in court proceedings. Typical probate and trust disputes that can be resolved through mediation, if the parties are willing, include: (more…)
Providing for Children with Special NeedsFriday, January 28th, 2011Parents of special needs children face many unique challenges. They must balance medical, educational, and social issues in addition to the other normal trials of parenting. Raising a special needs child can also involve a complicated struggle to find the right resources to help the child. Parents also face financial challenges in caring for a special needs child due to medical bills that may not be covered by insurance, as well as increased educational expenses and costs of therapy programs. For parents who have children who may require care into adulthood, there is the added worry of ensuring their child will be cared for after the parents pass away. As one financial planner notes, parents of a special needs child must essentially plan for three retirements—both of their own and their child’s long-term care. A special needs trust is an estate planning tool that is available to help parents plan for and protect their special needs child’s future. A special needs trust can preserve government benefits, such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medi-Cal, for people with disabilities. These benefits have specific financial eligibility requirements. If a person with disabilities receives an inheritance when they reach adulthood, they may no longer be able to qualify for benefits. A special needs trust is a wonderful way to help provide for a special needs child through his or her adulthood. Under a special needs trust, a trustee (who may be a friend, relative, or the trust department of a bank) is named to hold property for the benefit of the child with disabilities after the parents are no longer alive. The trust is used to provide for various needs of a person with disabilities, without causing them to be disqualified for government benefits and programs. The trust may be funded by the parents’ life insurance policies or with monetary gifts from relatives. The trust can be customized based on the individual wishes of the family and the needs of the child. San Diego Law Firm’s attorneys have many years of experience in setting up special needs trusts, and are knowledgeable about the precise legal rules that must be followed. They can create a trust that will permit your child or disabled adult family member to receive all government benefits to which they are entitled, that will fit your family’s needs, and that will help ensure that your special needs child will be protected and cared for in the future. To learn more about special needs trust, and to receive expert legal help in setting up your child’s trust, please call San Diego Law Firm at (619) 794-0243 to schedule an appointment.
Living Trusts in CaliforniaFriday, September 10th, 2010What is a Living Trust? A Living Trust is a legal document that holds title to your assets on your behalf. You, as the “trustee” of the Living Trust, can move assets in and out of the trust, revoke the trust, or amend the trust at any time. However, after your death the trust becomes irrevocable and the assets in the trust are transferred to your “beneficiaries,” the people you want to inherit your property. Should a Living Trust be a Part of an Estate Plan? When deciding whether to make a Living Trust part of your estate plan, you should consider the benefits it can provide. One of the most important reasons to make a Living Trust part of your estate plan is to avoid probate. Under California law, if your estate has over $100,000 in assets at the time of your death, your estate must be probated whether or not you have a will. (Some assets, such as life insurance benefits paid to others, do not have to be included in calculating the $100,000.) Probate can be a time-consuming and costly process. However, assets conveyed to a Living Trust before death are not subject to probate, although a Living Trust generally does not contain every item you own, and a will is necessary to provide for the distribution of the remaining ones. If the value of those assets is less than $100,000, then no probate is required. Can a Living Trust Help Me Plan For a Disability? Without a living trust, if you become incapacitated, dramatic measures such as a court-supervised guardianship or conservatorship may be needed to manage your property. The advantage of a Living Trust is that you can specify who can manage your property if you become disabled. However, you need to make sure that your Living Trust is written to specifically address disability planning. Can a Living Trust Reduce Estate Taxes? A Living Trust may reduce estate tax liability. For example, a married couple can create an estate plan that qualifies for the federal estate tax exemption by having a Living Trust drafted as an “AB Living Trust.” This may be a useful document to include as part of an estate plan depending on the value of the estate, whether or not each spouse has separate property of a substantial value, and whether there are children who are to be provided for after the death of one parent. A final reason that a Living Trust may be valuable to you is that it keeps your information private. Probate is a court-supervised process that requires the disclosure of private records that you may not want to become part of public court records. If all your assets were handled in a probate, any person could find out who was going to inherit your assets and what those assets were. Estate planning is an intimate matter that you want handled with ease, efficiency, and a sense of trust between you and your attorney. Estate planning does seem complicated when there is so much to consider. Creating a living trust that will allow you the freedom to manage your assets while you are alive, plan for a potential disability, and avoid costly estate taxes takes the experience of a seasoned attorney. Call the team of estate planning attorneys at San Diego Law Firm at (619) 794-0243 for the living trust, will, and other estate plan options that will work best for you. The cost is surprisingly affordable, while the protection and peace of mind you’ll gain are priceless.
A “Special Needs Trust” Can Help Families Secure Their Child’s FutureFriday, August 20th, 2010Parents who want to leave property and investments to their children can utilize general estate planning tools to distribute their assets upon their death. However, families who have children with special needs require an estate planning device that ensures their disabled child is protected once they enter adulthood, both while the parents are living and after they have passed away. If you have a disabled child, an estate planning device you should consider is a Special Needs Trust. Many national associations that provide support to families with special needs children, such as the Autism Society of America, recommend using a Special Needs Trust as part of your estate plan. (more…)
Dying Without a Will or Trust in California: Do You Know What Happens?Friday, May 14th, 2010The decision of who inherits your property (and how) can either be made by you, or can be decided by the State of California. Let’s say that you never create a will or trust. Who would inherit your money and property? Dying Without a Valid Will (Intestacy) If you don’t leave behind any instructions for how you want your property divided (such as with a valid will or living trust), then California law steps in so that the probate court can distribute your property to your heirs. A person who dies without a valid will is said to have died “intestate.” In these situations, California’s intestacy laws apply. These laws decide which family members will inherit by creating a hierarchy. Sometimes things get more complicated, but here are the basics: (more…)
Who Would You Want to Care for Your Kids If You Couldn’t?Friday, March 12th, 2010Parenthood involves planning not only for your day to day responsibilities, but also for the major “what-ifs.” If you have minor children, have you thought about who you would want to take care of them if both you and the other parent become incapacitated or pass away? California law lets you choose in your will who you’d want to raise your children if you and the other parent are unable to. This is done through a “guardianship.” Your choice of guardian is one of the most important decisions you’ll make in your will, so how do you decide? In “How to Choose a Guardian,” mother of three Denise Oliveri proposes that you figure this out by answering five questions. To decide who will be right for the job, she suggests you evaluate age and health concerns, moral and educational values, financial ability to care for a child, and whether your child would have to move away. (more…)
All is Not Done Behind Closed Doors: Accounting to Beneficiaries of a Living Trust or Probate EstateFriday, January 8th, 2010To make sure that beneficiaries to a will or living trust aren’t kept in the dark when it comes to the money being spent, earned, and distributed from the estate, California law requires that certain people who are in charge of handling the estate or trust property provide accountings. The right to an accounting becomes even more important when administering a living trust because there’s much less court oversight than there is when property is distributed by the probate court when a person passes away with or without a will. Every trust designates a “trustee” to handle administration of the trust and distribution of its assets. If a person dies with a will, these responsibilities can fall on the “executor” who was named in the will, and when neither a trust nor a will is left behind, an “administrator” will be appointed for the job. (more…)
Threatening Disinheritance for Challenging a Will or Living Trust: The New California Law on “Will Contests”Wednesday, November 18th, 2009Threats of disinheritance to prevent challenges to a will or living trust are nothing new, but the enforceability of these threats will be affected by new California law. At the start of the new year in 2010, the rules will be changed for challenges brought against wills and trusts if the “testator” (the person who made the will) has included a “no contest clause” in the document. A no contest clause generally says that if you challenge the will and lose the contest, you’ll be completely disinherited under the will, or take a significantly reduced share. For public policy reasons, no contest provisions are not blindly followed by the courts. That’s why even when there is a no contest clause, if the legitimacy of the will or trust (or parts of the document) come into question, it’s sometimes possible to bring a valid challenge in order for the probate court to determine if the deceased’s true wishes are reflected in the will. (more…)
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