Covid-19 has left many families grieving the sudden loss of their loved ones. As Guideway assists them in probating their estates, we’re sensitive to the painful loss of family members. In a best-case scenario, the Probate is uncontested by the surviving family members, the Executor settles the estate and it’s...
One of the sad consequences of COVID is Probate. We don’t hear much about it because it gets lost in the more immediate heartbreak of this disease. But Probates are on the rise. They are a very real consequence of dying and not having a Living Trust. When a loved...
COVID is proving to be a very cunning adversary. Experts continue to learn about and respect COVID’s nuances because it’s still the one in control. While the disease is most dangerous for the elderly and those with preexisting conditions, it transcends demographics. It’s affecting those who are healthy, athletic, young...
Sometimes death has a way of bringing out the worst in families. The death of a parent and the subsequent efforts to settle the estate can renew old rivalries among siblings. Ask those who grew up in dysfunctional families, and they’ll tell you that just because they’re older doesn’t mean...
John’s father died unexpectedly in 2012, and he never quite got around to creating a Will or documenting his assets and their locations. The result? Five years later, John, our client, is still trying to finish probating his father’s estate. It has required a monumental detective effort to identify his father’s...
Abby’s mother died in a tragic automobile accident in January. She had never prepared a Living Trust because, like many people, she assumed that this was something she’d have plenty of time for when she grew old. An only child, Abby would be the Administrator of her mother’s estate When Abby came...
A man recently came into our Walnut Creek office with a Probate case. His father and stepmother had owned the family home as joint tenants. When his father died a few years earlier, his stepmother became the property owner. But now the stepmother had died and the ownership of the...
Our clients frequently tell us that our Living Trust is a thoughtful end-of-life planning package that helps them think about how they will distribute their assets to their families. We include a Financial Power of Attorney, an Advance Healthcare Directive and a Pour Over Will. We include a place to...
End-of-life planning isn’t just about the legal documents we help our clients prepare. In our offices, there are many discussions that surface about related topics—disability insurance and the limits of Medicare. There’s a lot of confusion about hospice, and thanks to modern medicine, we are living longer lives, yet that...
We were still mourning the loss of David Bowie when we learned that R&B icon, Prince, had tragically died a few weeks ago in his suburban Minnesota home. A mysterious superstar, his popularity transcended generations and genres. But what a legacy he left behind. Over 30-plus years, Prince sold more...
We were still mourning the loss of David Bowie when we learned that Prince had tragically died a few weeks ago in his Minnesota home. A mysterious superstar who was widely regarded as a musical genius, his popularity transcended generations and genres. Prince sold more than 100 million albums and...
One of our clients created her Living Trust some 12 years ago, and updating her Trust was a 2016 New Year’s resolution. The update was long overdue; since its creation, she’s invested in an IRA, a life insurance policy and some other brokerage accounts. She was going to wait until she...
