When someone dies in the middle of a divorce in California, handling their estate isn’t as simple as it might seem. Families often face tough questions: Who gets what? Which court is in charge? And how do unfinished divorce proceedings affect the division of property...
You created a revocable living trust and think you are covered. You might be wrong. The most important step after signing your trust is funding – the process of transferring your assets into the trust. Without this step, the trust may not control everything you...
When it comes to planning for future medical care, two documents often create confusion: the Advance Health Care Directive (AHCD) and the POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment). While both are important, they serve different purposes. Understanding how...
When it comes to estate planning in California, one of the most important things to understand is the difference between community property and separate property. Because California is one of only a handful of community property states, how your property is classified...
When people think about estate planning, they often focus on wills, trusts and who inherits what. But planning is about far more than property. It also addresses medical decisions – those moments when you can’t speak for yourself and someone else must step in. A...
Portability is an important concept in estate planning that can help married couples maximize their federal estate tax exemptions. In simple terms, portability allows the unused portion of a deceased spouse’s federal estate tax exemption to pass to the surviving...
