One of the most valuable yet often overlooked tax benefits in estate planning is the "step-up in basis." In California, where property values are often high and many residents use living trusts to manage and transfer their assets, understanding how the step-up in...
Wednesday, June 11, 2025, may go down in history as the Day the World Stopped Spinning. For me, it was the day my turntable began spinning out of control, in memory of Beach Boy Brian Wilson, who is likely rockin’ and rollin’ in heaven with his brothers, Carl and...
By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY Historian The Highland Mill was built in the early 1890s by the Danaher brothers. They had to build a road with a trestle bridge over a deep gorge to get to the previously inaccessible virgin timber area near current day Running Springs. They...
At a recent meeting of the Mountain Resort Communities Association of Realtors, I was asked point blank why, as the local real estate columnist, I wasn't reporting on the ongoing fracas between the Arrowhead Woods Architectural Committee (AWAC) and a vocal group of...
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is great for generating meal plans or organizing workouts but, when it comes to something as important as your estate plan, you might want to think twice. Many people are tempted by do-it-yourself (DIY) legal tools and AI-generated estate...
I know this sounds repetitious, for we have taken this journey before. It is, of course, the journey that incorporates Southern California Edison’s continued malfeasance in regard to their refusal to bury their powerlines in order to prevent them from falling to the...
