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...
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...
Why don’t more East Bay families have Living Trusts? Good question. But here are some of the excuses: 1. I don’t have an estate--why do I need an estate plan? This is, of course, the classic excuse. Certainly those with a lot of assets have more to protect and more to lose...
This is the time of year when we wake up to a huge dose of reality. The holidays are over, spring is months away, and it seems there’s nothing to look forward to but diets, bills and taxes. New Year’s resolutions: making promises to ourselves Yet a New Year represents new opportunities,...
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...
There are many things to keep in mind as you plan the distribution of your assets among your heirs for your Living Trust. But for those in their second or third marriages, replacing the name of the former spouse with that of the new one on all assets, including life...
