When David and Susan married five years ago in San Francisco, they brought together more than just their household belongings. David had two teenagers from his previous marriage, while Susan had a 10-year-old daughter. Like many modern California families, they faced an immediate question: How would they ensure all three...
Congratulations on setting up your living trust! This smart move will protect your assets from the cost and delay of probate and will ensure they're distributed as you wish. But your work isn't done. It's crucial to update your California living trust as your life changes. Whether you've experienced marriage,...
“Alice” and her husband “Andrew” had a very good question about appointing a Successor Trustee for their Living Trust. At 80, Alice had been diagnosed with cancer, and she was still very weak after months of chemotherapy. Andrew was 85 and dealing with a number of health problems. He had...
Creating and funding your Living Trust doesn’t necessarily stop there. A Trust should be updated with important life events—a birth or death in the family; changes to relationships, including divorce; or acquisition of property or other assets that could affect the inheritance of your loved ones. Occasionally, there are also...
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...
We get a lot of questions from our clients about whether they really need a Living Trust or whether a Will, a simpler legal document, is enough. Trusts are an increasingly popular estate-planning tool for a number of reasons. Trusts are private while a Will is a public document, available to...
Sam and Melissa had always relied on their mother’s strength, energy and selflessness. Happily, she enjoyed good health and her many interests for most of her life. Their mother grew up during the depression, and the siblings has always believed that experience made her and her generation more resilient. Their...
A client recently came into our Oakland office seeking our advice. His father was 82, in a nursing home after suffering several strokes, and now in the early stages of dementia. He had always assured his family that he set up a Living Trust for himself and his wife, our...
We talk a lot about the importance of creating a Living Trust—the legal document that details how your assets will be distributed when you die, helping your family avoid Probate. For most of our clients, their assets will be distributed first to the surviving spouse, and then among their children....
