Torrance, Long Beach, Pasadena
Do It The Smart Way
When someone passes away, one of the first things a Trustee need to do is to find out what assets are in the trust, which need to be put into the trust, and which have direct beneficiary designations. Most estate plans have an inventory sheet where all the trust assets are listed, but most people ignore [...]
When there is a blended family with children from multiple marriages, special considerations should be placed into the estate plan. Without proper planning, the surviving spouse could be left without the means to provide for him or herself. Additionally, we also see lopsided distributions, which typically result in one spouses children suing the others. With [...]
Every year, during our free 3-year reviews, without fail, we find that a few of our clients have inadvertently placed a piece of real estate in danger of going through probate. Refinancing When interest rates drop, like they have in the past few years, many people rush to refinance and significantly reduce their mortgage payments, or pull [...]
Sometimes people can get a little too cleaver in their attempts to avoid probate, and save some money in legal fees. One of the maneuvers we see quite a bit involves adding children, or other family members to accounts are joint tenants. Unfortunately, this maneuver can have real world impacts on you and your assets [...]
To report the death of a loved one and initiate residual retiree pay and/or annuity application process, contact the agencies below.
*** Update *** As of 8:00 PM PST on January 1, 2013 The US House of Representatives passed the Senate bill designed to avert the Fiscal Cliff. President Obama has signaled that he will sign it into law. Included in this bill is a new Federal Estate Tax Exemption. The new exemption amount is $5,000,000 [...]
The best way to avoid a conservatorship is to plan ahead and make sure you’re protected in the event that you become incapacitated. Under California law, if a person is found to be legally incompetent, the probate court can appoint a conservator to oversee a person’s personal or financial affairs. This is where things can [...]
You can use a Revocable living trust to specify a trustee to hold the trust assets and keep them invested until your child or children reach an age your feel comfortable with. This type of trust is referred to as a Spendthrift Trust, and can be folded right into your Revocable Living Trust. Statistics show [...]
The “Stepped up Basis” (new value) is a new basis which is available to property received through inheritance. The basis of a property is the value used to determine gain or loss for income tax purposes. Basically, it is the cost of the property (what you paid for it). The new value is determined by the of [...]
Basically there are two types of revocable living trusts for married couples. The first type is called a simple or basic trust. With a basic trust, while both spouses are living, they continue to manage the estate together as they had before creating the trust. Upon death of one spouse, the surviving spouse has sole and absolute control over the estate. When the [...]
