Living trust concept: a young family preparing breakfast in the kitchen

You’ve taken the time to plan for the financial well-being of your loved ones and yourself. You’ve created a customized estate plan to address your goals and concerns. Your plan includes one of the most powerful estate planning tools out there, the Revocable Living Trust, which allows your heirs to avoid probate upon your death […]

senior couple

“Estate planning is a crucial part of any holistic financial plan, and financial advisors often work with estate planning attorneys for guidance in this area.” Everyone wins when estate planning attorneys, financial advisors and accounting professionals work together on a comprehensive estate plan. Each of these professionals can provide their insights when helping you make […]

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“Now that there is a Democratic majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives, estate and gift tax law changes are expected to occur in 2021 or 2022.” Changes in the White House and the Senate have many people wondering how federal estate and gift tax laws may change and when those changes will […]

family photo

“Avoiding probate usually is the main appeal for living trusts. Trusts also can provide a gentler transition, if the grantor becomes incapacitated.” Any trust created while the person, known as the “grantor,” is living, is known as a “living trust.” However, the term is also used interchangeably with “revocable trusts,” which can be changed according […]

hand holding a plant

“The trust is a very useful and flexible tool for estate planning, yet it is probably the most underused estate management technique. A trust is an artificial entity, something like a corporation, created by a document or instrument.” There are four elements to a trust, as described in this recent article “Trust as an Estate […]

Happy Senior Couple

“To ensure a lasting legacy, you need to get your documents in order and have a clear plan for how your wealth will transfer, avoiding taxes and inheritor pitfalls along the way.” Asset distribution is how many estate plans begin, but we can create legacies for generations to come through our estate planning, says Kiplinger […]

printing calculator

“Prince’s sudden death in 2016 triggered numerous court proceedings. First, probate documents had to be filed in court because Prince died without a will.” Filing probate documents was just the beginning of process that still hasn’t ended the bad news from the Prince estate. He did not have a spouse or children, but Prince had […]

large mixed family

“Although there is often a progression of complexity in estate planning, this progression generally follows stages in life rather than specific ages.” Many people decide they need an estate plan when they reach a certain age, but when an estate plan is needed is less about age than it is about stages in life, explains […]

Family Pulling Party Favors During Christmas Dinner

“Trusts are legal entities that own assets, and all trusts are not alike. They are created by a written trust document with certain provisions that can vary from trust to trust.” There are a few things all trusts have in common, explains the article “All trusts are not alike“, from the Times Herald-Record. They all […]

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“Probate is the court process to distribute someone’s estate after their death, even if there is a will and is notoriously slow in California.” The nature of the probate process varies from state to state, and even varies from county to county. However, the nature of the process is the same. A court has to […]