As a single parent, how often do you worry about your child's future? Taking proactive steps towards a solid estate plan can significantly ease those worries, securing a prosperous future for your child. While estate planning is often misconceived as a realm for the affluent, it's a vital pathway for...
Making a Difference: How Charitable Giving in Your Estate Plan Can Benefit Your Community and Your Legacy Charitable Bequests One of the most common ways of charitable giving is through a charitable bequest in a will or trust. This allows you to leave a specific amount of money or assets to a...
Say 'I Do' to Easy Property Transfers: A Guide to Interspousal Transfer Deeds in California Buying or selling a home can be a complicated process, and if you're married, you may have to consider an Interspousal Transfer Deed. This legal document allows spouses to transfer property ownership between themselves, either as...
How to Transfer a Title of Real Estate in California: A Guide for Property Owners California is known for its unique real estate market, and transferring a real estate title in the state requires specific knowledge and understanding of the process. The transfer of a title means transferring ownership from one...
One of the consequences of Covid is that all too often, it doesn’t "just go away". This is not the flu. We hear about people getting Covid, then they’re back at work as if nothing happened. Those are the lucky ones. A good example is the White House staff last...
They’re officially called Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), but you probably know them as tiny houses. They’re small, carefully designed, tidy and, well, adorable. People are fascinated by these little houses for a lot of reasons. They’ve become part of the conversation about the housing crisis that has become a global...
A Deed can seem like an insignificant document, but without it, you can’t buy or sell a property. In the following example, the buyer hadn’t recorded the Deed, and the title remained in the owner’s name for nearly two decades. Nearly 20 years later, an unrecorded Deed surfaces This case study comes...
Jeff had been trying to sell a house he’s owned for 20 years. His realtor found a good buyer, but the preliminary title report showed that the man from whom he had purchased the property had a lien against it. The title company won’t issue title insurance for the new...
“Jason” came in to our Oakland office to change the title on a deed--a routine procedure that sometimes can be completed in a single day. Jason co-owned a home in the Oakland hills, and his name was on the deed along with those of his father and uncle, both deceased....
A woman, “Joan”, recently came into our Oakland office to talk to us about adding the names of her longtime partner and her daughter to the Deed for her home. As with many of our clients, health issues had caused her to think about succession planning. Joan had recently had...
Case Study, Bill Schaaf, Walnut Creek Office One of our clients, an unmarried man with two grown children wanted to create a Revocable Living Trust. He thought he owned two properties with his brother, and he wanted to make sure his children inherited his half of these properties when he died. We...
Deeds are one of our most popular services and many people are not aware that California Document Preparers has an even easier way to transfer title to their property. Our website has an online shopping cart that is easy, secure and seamless. From the main Deeds page, you’ll see a...
