If you have multiple children, you may wish to structure your estate plan so that each child receives an equal share of your property. Sometimes this is easier said than done-or written. If your will or trust contains conflicting or ambiguous language regarding the division of property, a probate court…
A last will and testament is a document that applies only to your “probate estate.” A probate estate may not include all of your assets. In some cases, you might not even own any assets subject to probate. Probate Assets Generally, any asset titled solely in your name is a…
A power of attorney is a legal document whereby a person, known as the “principal,” grants to another person, known as the “attorney-in-fact,” the authority to act on his or her behalf in certain financial matters. The attorney-in-fact is an agent and therefore owes a fiduciary duty to the principal.…
When the law speaks of “heirs,” it refers to those individuals entitled to inherit a person’s estate in the absence of a valid last will and testament. For example, if you live in California and die without a will or a spouse, but you do have children, those children are…
A successful estate plan makes the final distribution of a person’s property plain and clear. Ambiguity in a will or trust may lead to costly litigation over conflicting interpretations of a person’s intent. But even the best executed estate plan may still leave some unhappy heirs, as one recent California…
In creating a will or trust, a person may make specific bequests of property to a chosen beneficiary. But what happens if that beneficiary does not survive the person making the bequest? A well-drafted will or trust must anticipate such contingencies. Either the document should name an alternate beneficiary, or…
Many people use their estate plan to “leave a legacy.” A common example of this is making a gift to a charitable organization as part of a last will and testament. A person might, for instance, leave a gift to a university with instructions to establish a scholarship in his…
A last will and testament does little good if nobody can find the document after you pass away. It is important to safeguard your signed, original will as it must be filed with a probate court in order to formally open an estate. As a general rule, California courts will…
In estate planning, a “pour-over will” is a document signed in conjunction with the creation of a living trust. A pour-over will is like any other last will and testament, except that it distributes-or “pours over”-any probate assets to the related living trust. In this sense, the pour-over will is…
Many people wish to “leave a legacy” by making a charitable contribution through their estate plan. The Internal Revenue Service, which collects data from large estates required to file a federal estate tax return, reported more than $1.6 billion in charitable bequests from California residents alone in 2012. Charitable bequests…